5,6,7,8
by arkem
Summary: "Are you seriously asking for my number, Castle!" A playful look at Castle's misadventures as he tries to work out Beckett's magic number, all before 'I do'. Rated T for safety due to chap.4 content
1. Chapter 1

**A/N I took my cue from 'Til Death Do Us Part', the episode where Ryan and Jenny get married.**

* * *

**"_All?" exclaimed Castle._**

**"_Really? You sign women's chests at book parties, you cannot be surprised that I'm not a virgin." Beckett feigned shock at her partner's inquisition. _**

**"_It's just that all suggests…a lot. Just how many are we talking here?"_**

**"_Are you seriously asking for my number?" _**

**"_I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours…"_**

* * *

"I'm not going to tell you, Castle."

"Awww, come on! What can it hurt? It's just a little number…I hope it's just a little number." Castle said aloud, partly to Beckett, partly to himself.

"Relax, writer boy. I said I wasn't going to _tell _you." Castle raised an eyebrow at the window that had just been opened for him. Beckett moved around the table that was between them and stood so close to him that there was barely any space left between them. She leaned in, drew her lips to his ear, "You fancy yourself as a Detective, work it out for yourself" she whispered suggestively. Castle shuddered, a chill running down his spine. He struggled to control himself as he felt the movement of her lips brushing by his ear lobes, the warmth of her breath making him tingle. She shot him a coy smile as she pulled away and headed towards Gate's office. He swallowed hard, trying to compose himself.

"I'll give you until 'I do' to give me the right answer" Beckett called back to him, simultaneously knocking on Gates' door. Castle stood up and started towards Kate. Right on cue, the Captain called her in. "Oooh, burn" Kate mouthed in Castle's direction, stepping into the office and swiftly closing the door behind her, stopping him in his tracks.

"If Josh got to be motorcycle _man, _then I get to be writer man too!" he called after her.

* * *

She'd almost shut the door on his face he was that close to catching up to her. Castle stood outside Gates' office completely dumbfounded. Had that really happened? Had the oh-so-professional Kate Beckett just teased him – at work of all places – and challenged him to calculate her sexual history? _'Game on' _he thought to himself as he rubbed his hands with glee. He could hear Beckett and Gates talking about an impending trial and knew that they'd be in there for a while. Taking his opportunity while he had it, Castle turned on his heels and made his way back to Beckett's desk – '_What better place to start' – _he told himself.

* * *

Beckett was one of the most organised people he knew. Everything on her desk had a place – from pens to paperclips, staplers to sticky notes – she was meticulous. Castle knew he had to be careful so as to make sure not to give himself away. He heard Beckett's own words echoing in his mind; _a good detective finds left clues, a great detective leaves no clues to find._ Castle pondered that for a moment, not entirely sure he'd gotten it right. '_Maybe she'd said great criminals leave no clues to find…criminals, detectives…one and the same, right? I mean, how different can it be? It's something like that…oh well.' _His recall might not be great but the concept was there. _'I really have to stop going off on an internal rant like that' _he scolded himself. _'Get back to the point. The point…ah, yes!'_

The point. Rule number one: leave no clue. Castle had to leave no trace of himself or his 'illegal' activity around Beckett's desk. He glanced around the bullpen. Ryan and Esposito were in the break room; Espo trying to tempt Ryan into eating a doughnut instead of 'cleansing' with the freaky green concoction delivered to him by Jenny. There were two other detectives busy filing paperwork and a handful of beat cops escorting suspects from the tombs. He strained his ears…he could _just _abouthear Beckett and Gates still talking business back in the office. _'Safe'_ he agreed with himself.

Castle perched on the edge of Beckett's chair. He dropped his hand down to the lever that adjusted its height. Just as he clasped his fingers around it, Beckett's voice was screaming loud and clear in his head once more: _what have I told you…? Don't mess with my chair! I know you've been sitting in it Castle._ Right, don't mess with the chair.

Slowly, he eased open the first of the drawers housed in Beckett's desk. Spare notepads, pens, a ruler, Tipp Ex, spare business cards, a stray elastic band…nothing that would help him. He shut the drawer again and moved onto the one beneath it. It was deeper and heavier than the first and squeaked a tad as he pulled it. This one contained nothing but a bunch of case files waiting for Beckett to complete. Castle closed this drawer also, disappointed at his lack of success. He should have known – this wasn't just any half-wit convict, this was the incredibly private and professional Kate Beckett.

The bullpen had become unusually quiet. Castle lifted his head and scanned his surroundings before giving himself the 'all clear' to continue his quest. The third drawer in Beckett's desk was by far the largest, yet he couldn't remember ever seeing her open it. Not once in the four years he'd shadowed her had she opened that drawer in his presence. _'On to a winner' _Castle smiled to himself.

The handle of Gates' door turned and the door opened a fraction. Castle could hear Beckett rounding up her conversation with Gates so he still had time, just not a lot of it. '_Better be quick' _he told himself. He grabbed the handle of the last drawer and pulled hard, preparing for it to be heavier and stiffer than the previous ones.

There was a loud crashing sound as the front panel of the drawer came off in his hand and the speed of the movement caused him to stumble and fall from the edge of the chair he'd been precariously perched upon. With all the grace of a five year old on a bouncy castle, he found himself sprawled across the floor, drawer panel in hand and a throbbing pain in his head.

A dozen heads turned in his direction, Ryan and Esposito appeared outside the break room (doughnuts in hand) and the door to Gates' office was now fully ajar. Castle cringed, legs still in the air.

"Whatya doin'?" the voice was chirpy and amused. Castle turned his head and caught sight of a pair of four inch heels; Beckett heels. His eyes travelled the length of her body, committing every inch to memory (not that he needed to, he'd had four years to check her out and had used the time wisely). She was leaning on the back of the wheelie chair that had betrayed him, legs crossed at the ankles, hand on hip. Boy, did she ooze sex appeal when she stood like that. Finally he locked his gaze on hers. A wide smile that spread from ear to ear covered her face.

"Nothin' much. Just chillin' down here with my…with my…" For once in his life, Richard Castle was lost for words. _Why _did they desert him right when he needed them most? He was going to have to give himself a talking to later on.

"With _my _drawer handle?" she was enjoying this way too much, found it far too amusing.

"If that's what you kids are calling it these days, then yeah. I guess I am." He continued to lay there, looking like the victim of a cow-tipping session.

"Need a hand there maestro?" she proffered, holding her hand out to him as she did so. He took the offer, grateful for a little help out of this embarrassing situation. Castle brushed himself down with his free hand, straightened his suit as best he could.

"I'm fine. It's cool. I'm good." Castle said nonchalantly as he turned to face everyone else in the bullpen.

"Alright folks, shows over. Time to get back to work." Beckett instructed coming to his aid whilst trying her hardest to contain the laughter threatening to burst out of her. The usual buzz returned to the floor as the other members of the 12th's homicide division resumed their duties. "Wanna explain this?" she asked him gesturing towards both the panel in his hand and the black hold now visible in her desk.

"Er, yeah. Um…about that, I-I was…"

"Let me tell you what _I _think." Beckett chuckled with a twinkle in her eye that told him she still found his little 'mishap' high in comedic value. "I think, you were going through my desk hoping to find some 'evidence' to start compiling _your _list of people you think are on _my _list. Am I close?"

There was no point in lying to her, it was her job to discover the truth and she'd bust his tales in a second (providing his words came back long enough to spin a story in the first place). Castle gave a small nod, an affirmative response to her question as he sat back down in his own chair – without wheels – at the side of her desk. He held out the piece of drawer he'd been holding to Beckett, who slid it expertly back into its place.

"I just…You never open that drawer. I thought you might be hiding something in there, something that would help me assemble your list."

"What did you expect to find in there, Castle? My little black book? I've never opened that drawer in front of you because I don't use it. I don't use it because, well, you know now why I don't use it."

"Well I get that, _now! _ Oww!" Castle winced as rubbed his head, laughing a little at his own misfortune in the process. He focused on Beckett, "Wait! You have a little black book?"

"Seriously, that's what you took from all of this?" she couldn't suppress it any longer and let out a rip roaring belly laugh that rumbled from the bottom of her boots to the tip top of head and right on out into the open. "Oh, Castle!"

* * *

**I wrote this while taking a break from my other fic (which is more heavy on the emotional/angsty side of things) and thought this would be a good lighthearted way to break things up. Please review and let me know what you think so I know whether to keep going with this. :)**

**A**


	2. Chapter 2

Eventually, Beckett managed to get her 'outburst' under control, dialling it down to a tight lipped grin and the occasional splutter that broke free when it was just too big to contain. Castle scowled at her but she didn't notice; every time she looked him in the eye she had to fight for control of her laughter again so she'd simply stopped looking and attempted to bury herself in the mountain of paperwork she'd accumulated.

"It wasn't _that _funny!" Castle hissed, unsure whether this was an attempt to convince himself or Beckett.

_Giggle._

"Come on, it wasn't!" The '_9 year old on a sugar rush_' had definitely come down from his high with an almighty bump. Unimpressed at being the victim – as opposed to the perpetrator – of ridicule, Castle got to his feet and turned in the direction of Ryan and Esposito, who'd reconvened in the break room. "If you're going to act like a child I'm going to leave you here on your own for time out!" he said, wagging his finger at her in a half-hearted effort at discipline before walking away.

Beckett fought so hard not to laugh at him again that she ended up both spluttering _and _snorting as a result, surprising even herself. She threw an open hand to her mouth to create an extra barrier for the sounds to break through.

Hearing this, half way to the break room, Castle stopped and doubled back on himself to return to the side of Beckett's desk, "and _this_…" he announced, snatching the pen from her idle hand as he narrowed his eyes at her defiantly, "…this is mine!" he added as he stomped away with his now fully-unleashed toddler temper in tow.

'_No wonder Alexis is the parent in that relationship' _she chuckled to herself, returning to stare at her paperwork in a bid to regain self-control.

Castle sidled into the break room and toward the seat between Ryan and Espo.

"Hey man, careful there. Want me to hold on to the chair for you so you don't fall off?" goaded Esposito.

"Yeah, wouldn't want you to hurt yourself now would we?" Ryan joined in. Castle let out a sarcastic laugh, now _way _past seeing the funny side of things. As he began to let himself fall into the chair he was startled by the simultaneous shouting of the boys.

"Woah!"

"Wait!"

He tried to stop himself but it was too late, he'd already dropped too far and couldn't help but land in the chair. As soon as his cheeks touched the seat his reactions caused him to bounce straight back up again, much like a bouncy ball thrown against the pavement. He spun round to face the source of his confusion.

"What? What is it?" he said, the adrenaline coursing through his veins causing his voice to sound shakier and more desperate than he had intended. Without a word between them and in perfect synchronisation, Ryan and Esposito each grabbed a leg of the chair Castle was about to sit on.

"_Now, _you may sit" declared Ryan, donning his best straight faced detective look.

"Only looking out for you, dude" finished Espo, complete with matching poker face.

"Ha, ha, ha." Castle's words were slow and deliberate, a mocking smile upon his face. "You're so funny", his last words coming out short and fast and the smile falling from his face, replaced with childlike scorn as the guys sat about cackling to themselves like two little girls in a playground. The detectives turned to one another and engaged in a congratulatory fist bump.

"Only messing with ya, bro." Espo teased, "You wanted to be one of us, now you are; perfect banter fodder. Gonna take a lot for you to live that one down!"

"Hmmm." Suddenly being 'one of the guys' wasn't so appealing to Castle if _this _was what he was going to have to put up with until the next time he did something stupid. _ 'Thinking about it, it probably won't be that long until the moment arises' _he considered.

"What were you doing in Beckett's desk anyway?" Ryan asked, swigging at his 'cleanser'.

"Oh, er, yeah." Castle stuttered, remembering why he'd come to see the guys in the first place. "I was looking for something, something that will help me work out her magic number."

"Her magic number? Does she know about this?" This time it was Esposito doing the questioning.

"Of course! As if I'd look for something like that without her knowing." The guys just looked at him, eyebrows raised. "Yeah, okay. Point taken. But it _was_ her idea, well sorta." Ryan and Esposito sat back in their chairs and crossed their arms, Castle's cue to continue. "She said that she wouldn't _tell _me her number but," he turned to Ryan, "I have until you say 'I do' to work it out for myself." He paused a moment, let the boys get used to the idea. "Now, I may not have come through the Academy, but I reckon I'm capable of a little detective work."

Ryan and Espo scoffed and Castle could swear their mumblings were something along the lines of _'Sure you are, Sherlock' _and '_With that haircut?' _but he pretended he hadn't heard and continued.

"I had no luck with her desk but I reckon you two, my men, can be of service." He draped an arm round each of their shoulders, a pleading smile on his face.

Esposito brushed Castle's hand from its resting place, "Dude!"

Castle reclaimed his limbs and placed them on his knees. "Ah, too far. I got it" he whispered sheepishly raising his hands in apology.

"Wha'dya wanna know?" Ryan interjected, 'detective mode' fully established.

"Well," Castle began, his self-assured confidence creeping back in. "You've known Beckett how long…7…8 years?" he chanced.

"About that, yeah" Esposito was beginning to get a little suspicious. "So…"

"So…" Castle drew a deep breath, "So, I want you to tell me what you know, or rather _who _you know." Ryan and Esposito just stared at each other and rolled their eyes. Castle continued, "So far, I know about Demming, Josh and Sorenson" he counted the men off on his fingers "…there's gotta be more that came through here before I was around. You guys have years on me round this joint, you've known her longer than I have therefore you know more than I do."

Ryan's eyes widened. "Did you just admit that we know more than you do?"

"No, no" Castle desperately tried to backtrack, recant his statement. "No, I just meant that you know more about Beckett's past because…because…" _drat_, his words were disappearing again. "…because you were part of her past before she even knew me." He sat back in his chair, smugly satisfied at his navigation around that potential pit fall.

"Let's see…" Espo began.

"There was that 'actor'" Ryan recalled, complete with air quotes. Castle pulled out a notepad from his inside pocket and clicked the top of the pen still in his hand from when he stole it off of Beckett. He poised it over the crumpled paper ready to take notes, '_just like a real detective' _he decided.

"What was his name again?"

"Nathan! It was Nathan."

"Yeah, that was it. And she saw that guy Dale briefly." Espo started counting off on his fingers.

"Not Dale, Dan."

"Dale!"

"Dan!"

"Dale!"

"Dan! Dale was just some guy she worked out with after hours." Castle's ears pricked up at this and he lifted his eyes from his notepad. "In the gym! Jeez Castle, get your mind out of the gutter."

"Oh, yeah." Esposito brushed off his mistake, powering on with the list "And then before him there was…Mr T! "

"Matthew T. Kirkwood." Ryan mocked as he remembered the man.

"People ask me what the T in my name stands for." Espo joked, "If you're a man it's 'tough', if you're a woman or child it's 'tender'." The two partners howled in laughter at their own anecdotal gag.

"Stop yo jibber-jabba!" Ryan just couldn't help himself and caused the guys to double over in amusement, their sides aching at the workout. "He was a douche but one hell of a prosecutor."

"Ha, yeah. I pity the fool who defends criminals!" Espo exclaimed as he caught his breath, doing his best 'Mr T' impersonation.

"Gotta teach the fools some basic rules!" Ryan managed through his hysterics.

"I pity the fool!" Castle jumped up, shouting rather over-theatrically. The guys stopped laughing and rested their eyes on Castle. Ryan shook his head, Espo looked disapproving and their straight faces and seriousness returned, the moment of humour dissolving instantly.

"Too far."

"Yeah. Break's over."

With that, the partners took their leave and headed back to their desks.

"Aww, come on guys! Don't be like that. Come back, I'm not done! …Guys?"

* * *

**A/N I want to say thank you to all of you that have read/reviewed/alerted this story so far. The reviews/messages really put a smile on my face and help me to know what people are after and what you'd like more of, so keep them coming! It seems the general consensus is that it's nice to put some fun back into Castle after all the angst of recent episodes and I hope that I'm managing that. This has been really fun to write and I can't wait to get the next chapters up and running for you guys. Also, sorry to those of you (if any) that unfamiliar with the A Team, the end of this chapter probably went right over your head! **

**A**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N **** Thanks for sticking with this story and putting a smile on my face with your alerts and reviews – they really mean a lot.**

**Right, on with the show! I hope these next chapters make up for my lack of updates and I promise to jump back on the update-bandwagon more frequently.**

**As always, read/review/enjoy – whatever suits.**

**A**

Alone in the break room, Castle got out his notepad and rattled down the list of names he'd scrawled on the 'Beckett List': _Josh, Demming, Sorenson, Nathan, Dan, Mr T. _So that made six. It was fair becoming a list alright. A childish chuckle escaped him, '_hehehe, 'Beckett List', well if it's anything like a 'Bucket List' I sure wanna make it on there.' _The childish thoughts and the accompanying scenarios that his writer's imagination was coming up with were more than enough to keep him occupied for hours, but time was pressing on. Two days. Two measly days was all he had left to figure this out and he sure as hell wasn't going to be beaten, not because it meant losing, but it meant that Beckett would win…and the Magic Number would forever elude him.

Trying to eradicate the juvenile thoughts now trampling their way through the wild jungle of his mind, he closed over the notebook and returned it to the inside pocket of his jacket along with the pen he'd reclaimed from Beckett not 20 minutes previously.

Utilising the quiet moment he had acquired – such a rare occurrence at the 12th – Castle took a moment to formulate his plan of action. '_'Plan of action' doesn't sound 'detective' enough' _he thought to himself, '_…a POA! That's more like it'. _His eyes glazed over as he lost his vision to the distance, staring at nothing in particular while his brain cogs whirred into action and he was lost to the depths of his thoughts. He'd exhausted all of his immediate options – Beckett's desk and the boys – he'd have to be smarter and more devious if he wanted to complete his mission. '_Case! Not mission, case!' _he mentally corrected himself, trying to stop the whole situation going to the head of his inner, 9 year old self.

He pulled out the notepad again, turning the page from the 'Beckett List' to a fresh sheet (after a mandatory snigger at his genius play on words, of course).

'_P.O.A.' _he scribbled across the top of the page. Nothing was coming to his mind so he wrote '_desk' _and '_Ryan/Espo' _underneath his heading before immediately crossing them out – at least this way it _looks_ like he's making progress. He tapped the pen repeatedly on the paper, banging out a beat to rival even the best drummers.

He stared through the top corners of his eyes, rolling them from one side to the other as if physically searching the archives of his brain for a solution. His pursed lips flitted from his left side to his right. An eyebrow slid down his face. Richard Castle really was the picture of contemplation.

"Hey there, Bambi" the voice withdrew him from his daydream, startling him in the process. "Lanie just called, she wants a word. You coming?" Beckett asked, waving her phone in his general direction.

Then inspiration struck him – Lanie! Of course, Lanie would know _all _the details of Beckett's 'misdemeanours'. He added her name to the list – making sure to add it to the right one. '_Although' _he pondered, '_what if Beckett _had _been with a woman…' _ It didn't bear thinking about, not while he was at the Precinct at any rate – he'd save that little gem for later, maybe work it into his next Nikki Heat.

"Do you even have to ask?" he smiled back at her, getting to his feet as he did so and returning the notebook.

Castle followed her through the bullpen as she grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair, dropped her cell phone and keys in the pocket. Ryan and Esposito were still mimicking 'Mr T' and chuckling to themselves following their conversation with Castle. Unlucky for them, Beckett overhead snippets of their conversation as she passed their desks. Realising what was going on – and that Castle hadn't given up following his faux-pas with the desk – she turned to face him, raising a knowing eyebrow and cocking her head slightly.

She didn't say anything. She didn't need to. It was the 'you're-so-in-trouble, I'm-going-to-make-you-pay-for-this-later' look that Castle had so frequently received in the past. It almost always amounted to nothing. _Almost _always. Somehow sensing that this time he might not be so lucky as to escape 'the look' unharmed, Castle gulped nervously as a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead.

That was enough for Beckett; the fear she could strike in a man – especially a man like Richard Castle – with a simple glance gave her an amazing sense of power, of control and of satisfaction. She turned from him to face Ryan and Esposito, a smug smile decorating her radiant face as she did so but disappearing before the guys could see it.

She faced them head on, no trace of a smile. Ryan and Espo suppressed their laughter and busied themselves. Content that they had quit gossiping about her sexual history, Beckett continued her walk to the elevator, giving Castle a slight push at the base of his spine as encouragement to get moving.

As if on cue, the elevator doors slid open as the pair arrived in front of them. One of the other Detectives stepped out, gracing Beckett and Castle with a courtesy 'afternoon' with accompanying grin. Just when the doors began to close, Beckett heard Esposito calling after her.

"I pity the fool that dates a moron, I pity the fool" and the howls of laughter that follow it. Oooh, they think they're safe 'cause she can't get them…she may be stuck in an elevator now but they better watch themselves.

It wasn't even funny when she was dating Matt. It definitely wasn't funny now.

Riding the elevator down to the lobby, Castle saw himself an opportunity – Beckett's cell phone. She'd thoughtlessly dropped the device into her _open _jacket pocket when she scooped it up from the back of her chair. Now, standing in the elevator with the jacket slung freely over her arm, pick-pocketing the Detective didn't seem too far-fetched. He just needed a cover…

After their brief journey, the elevator doors slid open to reveal the Precinct lobby. Beckett gave a polite nod to the bunch of Narcotics Detectives that greeted them on the other side of the doors, along with half a dozen suspects who were being bundled straight in, ready for their various interviews.

The narc detectives didn't wait for Castle and Beckett to vacate the elevator before loading in their suspects. The sheer volume of people being forced into such a modestly sized elevator caused Castle's available moving space to decrease ten-fold. He turned to his right so as to flatten himself against the crowd and making the forward moving space he needed to get out smaller. Beckett did the same, turning to her left so the side wall of the elevator was at her back and she could press forward along the outside edge. Feeling much like sardines in a tin can, they attempted to brace themselves against the crowd and tried to side-shuffle their way forward in the direction of the lobby.

With all the hustle and bustle of the elevator one of the other Detectives stumbled and a domino effect similar to a game of skittles ensued; the first Detective stumbled into two suspects, two suspects each fell into a few more and before he knew it, Castle was a victim to the dominoes as a Detective and two suspects crashed into him and he was pushed forwards…but not forwards in the direction he intended. Forwards – into Beckett.

Her back pressed tightly against the cool steel of the elevator wall, Kate Beckett could also feel the contrasting heat emanating from the ruggedly handsome Richard Castle at her front. Castle had propped himself against the wall, forearms flat against the metal surface either side of Beckett's head, face inches from hers. Their eyes locked and for a moment, the world around them was lost. She was close enough for him to smell the hint of cherries on her skin, feel her breath on his face… '_Wow' _ was the only thought Castle could manage as he relished his proximity to such a forbidden fruit. Her scent filled his hazy mind and he found himself drifting to some other place as the reality of the elevator faded.

"Er…Castle?" Beckett interrupted when she finally snapped back to reality herself.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." He released her eyes and pushed himself from the wall to give her space to slip past the elevator buttons and into the lobby, dropping his right hand into her jacket pocket as she did so. Bingo. The cell phone was his.

Even by the time they'd arrived at the Morgue and were standing over Lanie's table, Castle still could not shake the encounter from his mind. Replaying it over and over in his head, clearly distracted from the task at hand; so distracted, he barely noticed the friendly chatter around him die down.

"With us, Writer Boy?" quizzed Beckett. The glassy eyed look erased from his face and Castle came back into focus, greeted by the gazes of the M.E. and his partner.

"Girl, wherever he was it most certainly was not here." Answered Lanie.

"I, er…yeah. Hey! I already told you about calling me Writer _Boy" _exclaimed Castle, slowly returning to his senses.

"Oh, Castle. I couldn't possibly call you 'Writer Man'. I'm a Detective, I work with evidence…and so far, I've not witnessed the proof." She smirked at him, knowing just how to press his buttons and rile him up.

"Well I'd be happy to provide any evidence required." He retaliated, accompanying his not so subtle offer with an even cheekier wink.

Lanie coughed a little. "As I was saying," she continued. "That John Doe you brought me the other day, I still haven't managed to get an ID on him. No dental records, finger prints not in the system, no record. It's like he's a ghost. However, I did manage to determine that he's originally from Eastern Europe, most likely the Ukraine. Besides that, I haven't really got much for you other than the obvious COD being a 9mm to the head."

"You brought us all the way down here to tell us you have nothing?" asked Beckett, confused.

"Well no, not exactly. I called you down here to chat about dresses for the wedding."

"And on that note, I'm excusing myself from this oestrogen charged conversation and returning to the sanctuary of my loft for some lunch."

"Oh come on, Castle. You're the biggest metrosexual I know. Don't act like you're not intrigued." Beckett teased him. "Let's all go for lunch. How's The Old Haunt sound to you, Castle?"

"Well, I suppose it would save a little bit of my street cred…"

"Give me a sec to wash up and I'll meet you guys at the car" Lanie added.

"No rush." Added Castle, "I'm gonna take a quick trip to the little boys room before we go"

"See!" Beckett exclaimed. Castle just looked at her, completely unaware of what her sudden epiphany could possibly be.

"What?!"

"Writer _Boy _is going to the little _boy's _room. You said so yourself, Castle. Guess that's all the evidence I need"

He didn't really need the bathroom but he knew as well as anyone, the longer you hold on to stolen property, the more likely you are to get caught red handed.

Slipping into the men's room, Castle pulled out Beckett's cell phone from his trouser pocket. To his frustration, a screen lock appeared when he pressed a button. _'Darn it.' _He spoke to himself. '_If I were Beckett, what would my code be…' _ The code required 6 digits…He typed in her birthday. Incorrect. '_Of course, that would be too easy, and she IS a detective…' _Next he tried her badge number before realising it only consisted of 5 numbers. The last digits of her cell phone number, the day she graduated from the Academy, her dad's birthday…all wrong. '_All too simple.' _He told himself. The five wrong attempts meant that he had to wait 30 seconds to try again. Using his time wisely, Castle tried to think of all the possible combination of numbers that he used for PIN codes and security passes. '_Alexis' birthday, the numbers that corresponded to his name, anniversaries…anniversaries!' _ When his 30 seconds were up, he chanced a guess at the day he met Kate. Not the time he signed her book, since that didn't really count as he met hundreds of people that day and they all blurred into one. Instead, he punched in 030909 – the day he released 'Storm Fall' and Beckett had dragged him from his launch party into the Precinct for questioning.

'_Yes!' _his eyes lit up and he let out a shout of excitement as the locked screen faded to reveal a picture of Kate and her Dad, Jim.

"You alright in there, Castle?!" came Beckett's call through the door.

"Erm, yes! Yes, I'm fine. Just give me two seconds."

'_What to do now…text messages.' _He opened her inbox to see who her recent conversations were with – _Lanie, Castle, Esposito, Dad, Ryan, Carter Burke. _ '_Carter Burke?' _ Castle clicked open the message. Just a list of times and dates and none of them with return messages. He assumed it was just appointments of some kind and nothing of significance to add to his list. He returned to the conversation list and continued scrolling until another name caught his eye: Madison Queller. He'd hit the jackpot.

Castle closed down the message inbox and opened up the phone book, searching for Madison's name.

"Hurry up, Castle! Lanie will be ready before you if you take any longer." Beckett shouted as she banged on the door. Castle whipped out his notebook and stolen Beckett pen, quickly turning to the first clean page.

"Coming" he called back as he scrawled down a copy of the number and passed his hand under the drier to set it off, keeping up the bathroom pretence. Suddenly, the phone let out a loud series of beeps signalling an incoming message just as the drier shut off. '_Crap' _thought Castle as he set the phone back to 'lock' and returned it to his pocket before exiting the bathroom.

"Jeez, what took you so long, Castle?!"

"Nothing. Can't a _man _enjoy a peaceful moment in the bathroom before being subjected to lunch with two of New York's most talkative women?"

"Sure, you can." Beckett began to walk away from him as Lanie joined them. The pair of women strolling in front of him down the hallway and towards the car. After briefly admiring the view this gave him, Castle began to walk several paces behind them before picking up his pace and settling himself between the two beauties.

"Hey, Castle" Beckett grabbed the end of his nose and squeezed it hard.

"Aah! Apples! Apples! Apples!" repeated Castle, over and over. Lanie decided to join in, taking a strong hold of Castle's ear. "Ooww, I said APPLES!"

Lanie and Beckett looked at one another for a moment before deciding to release the squirming writer.

"What was that for?!"

"_That,_" she said "was for stealing my phone. And _that," _she punched his shoulder with her other hand "is for thinking I'd be stupid enough not to notice."

"Bu-…how did you-…?" Castle stuttered as he struggled to process this information. He scrunched his face and wriggled his nose a little to try and restore the blood flow and reduce the throbbing pain he now felt.

Beckett delved into his trouser pocket.

"Ooh, Detective. What you're looking for is a little to the left" he grinned at her but immediately regretted his little quip when a hand from either side of him clouted him round the head. "APPLES!" he yelled for the umpteenth time. "What do you two not understand about how to use safe words?!"

"Man, you're lucky you've still got the equipment required for safe-word-situations" Lanie stated in her very matter-of-fact way.

Beckett was resumed her search of his pocket.

"I already told you, Kate. You want to search me, all you gotta do is ask." His remark was met by simultaneous glares from both Lanie and Beckett. "Apples!" he shouted, just as a precautionary measure. "Since you didn't ask, aren't you supposed to have probable cause to search me or something?"

The phone rang, Beckett's ringtone for Captain Gates.

"Oh, lookie here. I think that's my probable cause, Mr Castle. Don't you?" Beckett said as she threw him up face first against the wall. She thrust her hand into the pocket on the other side, still no joy. The Captain's ringtone continued to blare out.

"How many times do I have to tell you? JUST ASK!"

"Fine." Beckett huffed. "Where is it?"

"In my pocket" replied Castle, and Beckett threw him against the wall one more time for good measure.

"Very funny. Now give it to me." She demanded, turning him round to face her.

"Say please."

"Castle!"

"Ah! Magic word…" He knew she'd hate that, but love it at the same time just because it was him that was demanding it of her. It would take a moment or so though, he knew that too. Beckett squared up to him, tried to stare him down.

"Urgh! PLEASE!" she finally caved, right as the Captain's ringtone cut out. Castle reached into his inside jacket pocket and produced Beckett's cell.

"See, now that wasn't so hard was it?" he teased.

"I'm going to call the Captain back" she growled, "and _then, _I'm going to make you pay for that." A promise, not a threat. Castle knew her well enough to know she never said what she didn't mean.

"Oooh, you've woken the Beast. She is gonna make you huuurrt for that one. Good luck with that" Lanie remarked.

"I look forward to it." He jested, "Just remember: safe word, apples." A twinkle in his eye, a mischievous wink and a charming grin only fanned the flames he'd ignited in Kate Beckett.


	4. Chapter 4

"How come I have to ride in the back? Do you know how many criminals have sat where I'm sitting now?" Castle whined from the back seat of Kate's Crown Vic.

"I'm sure you feel right at home, Castle." She replied.

"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?"

"A few more…and buy me, us" she gestures at Lanie, "lunch. Then I might forgive you."

"Fine, I'll buy you lunch. We both know you can't stay mad at me for long. Look at me and my adorable face." He leans over so his face fills the rear-view mirror, dons his best 'I'm-charming-and-you-know-it' face. "I'm sorry." He says again, not sounding the least bit sincere.

Kate averts her eyes, ridding her gaze of the manipulative charm of the writer occupying her back seat.

"So, Lanie" Beckett turned to the M.E. "Tell me about this plus one you're bringing to the wedding."

* * *

Beckett pulls up outside The Old Haunt and cheekily pulls into the space marked 'owner'. She glances in her rear-view mirror in time to catch Castle's 'you-can't-park-here' look, his lips tightly pressed together and shifted slightly sideways, matching his slitted eyes and sunken brow.

"You gonna try tell me I can't park here, Castle?" she asked.

"I..er..um…no. You can park wherever you like Detective. Mi casa es su casa, well, mi parking lot es su parking lot apparently."

Lanie fought to keep herself from baiting the duo further and opened the door to remove herself from the situation and head in the direction of lunch.

Castle didn't move, not wanting to break eye contact with Beckett's reflection in the mirror.

"Hey, wait up!" she shouted through the closed doors to Lanie, "I'm coming." Beckett could see Castle's eyes light up, clearly mentally noting her unintentional pun and having a 'moment' to enjoy its entertainment value. Was it really unintentional? Hmm, she couldn't be sure. She did love toying with her shadow after all; he wasn't the only one that could pull a trick or two.

The slam of Beckett's door was enough to get Castle moving; he knew exactly what those two women were like when they're together and simply couldn't risk leaving them alone too long – time alone means time to conspire and he sure as hell didn't want to become the subject of ridicule or be used as bait of some sort in his own bar…especially in his own bar.

* * *

The Old Haunt has always had a sense of familiarity to Castle, but now it seems as though the rest of the 12th had carved themselves a niche and felt right at home. He liked that. So often it was him intruding on their world, but now they've found a place in his and what better place to do it than in a building packed to the rafters with good food and alcohol.

Lanie and Beckett headed over to the group's usual spot; opposite the bar, two tables from the end. It was far enough from the door to avoid a draft, close enough to the bar to feel part of the action but not get trampled when it was busy and shadowy enough to get away with things usually frowned upon, yet light enough to see general goings on. Perfect. Castle slid along the bench to sit next to the wall, leaving plenty of space for Beckett, _'or Lanie' _he supposes, to sit next to him. Without so much as a thought about it, Lanie sat on the opposite bench to Castle and picked up a menu.

"Why do you even bother picking up the menu? You already know what you're going to have." Kate asked as she dropped in next to her.

"Chicken salad wrap and Caesar sauce with chips, no salt" Castle and Beckett spoke in unison.

"And since we're on duty and can't drink –" Beckett continued

"Fresh squeezed orange juice, no pulp." Castle interrupted, finishing Kate's sentence for her. "Even I know what you're going to have. Heck, I'd bet that Jonathon knows what you're going to have." he gestured to the young man currently taking orders behind the bar. Beckett stifled a laugh, trying her best not to side with Castle in goading her friend but she just couldn't help it.

"Man, you two know how annoying that gets?" Lanie chided, throwing the menu down on the table. "It was cute at first and all, but you know what? Sometimes these things just get old." Castle sat back enjoying himself while he still could, while he wasn't the target of a female wolf pack and let the M.E. have her little moment of indignation.

"I'll go order some drinks" Beckett laughed, "Usual, Castle?"

"It's alright, I'll get these" he replied, sliding out from behind the table. "Wouldn't want to be accused of being 'un-gentlemanly' now, would I?"

Castle headed for the bar whilst Beckett and Lanie remained at the table. Kate was trying to coax her friend out of her mini-strop and it seemed his absence helped with this. Leaning on the bar, he turned to face his table, only to find the two women huddled in close and talking quietly to each other as they stared in his direction.

'_Great plan, Rick. Leave the two women capable of plotting and committing your murder without getting caught, at a table, alone. In your bar. You're asking for trouble now. Genius.' _his inner sarcasm screamed at him. He chanced another look – their eyes were most definitely south of the belt and they were giggling like a pair of school girls at a sleepover. '_You've done it now'_ he told himself.

"Rick Castle! Nice to see you back again. Now, are you on duty or are you good for a Scotch?" Jonathon asked cheerily.

"Thanks, my man. And I'm afraid not, just a lunch stop today so I'll take-"

"An iced tea. Got it. I assume you brought Detective Beckett with you, so that's a cream soda for her and I think I saw Dr Parish with you? So…orange juice no pulp. Coming right up."

"Got it in one. You're worth every cent I pay you Jon." Castle told the bartender, clearly impressed. Waiting for his drinks to be poured, Castle flipped through his notebook again. He hadn't managed to establish any other leads and was no closer to solving his 'case'. The six names he'd acquired through badgering Ryan and Esposito stared up at him from the page. Nothing new. He hadn't managed to add to his list since he left the break room and now time was running out fast. He turned the page to Madison's number and punched the digits into his phone.

It ran straight to voicemail. Waiting for the _beep_, Castle tried to monitor the Kate/Lanie situation. It appeared that their attention was now more focused on each other than on him, and he took this as a good sign – maybe they'd decided not to plot his death or concoct an elaborate plan to ridicule him after all.

"Hey Madison, this is Richard Castle, Kate's…friend." He wasn't really sure what to label them. They were friendly, sure. Partners, definitely. But 'friends'? It just didn't sit right with him, it wasn't enough to clarify their relationship to others. "I, er…hope you remember our little dinner date that time and I was wondering if you were interested in maybe meeting up again sometime." Jon placed the three drinks on a tray in front of him and Castle handed over the money, politely mouthing a 'thank you' to him as he did so before returning to his message. "I have some questions I need to ask you. So, give me a ring back if you're interested. Thanks, bye. Oh! And don't tell Kate I called you. Thanks."

He slipped his phone and the notebook back into his pocket before taking the drinks and heading back to the table.

* * *

When he returned to where Kate and Lanie sat, all Castle could hear was chat about dresses. He placed the women's drinks in front of them and put the tray on the floor underneath the table before sipping on his own beverage. His ears were full of dress related words, which he zoned out from, only the occasional one slipping through his filter. 'Bow', 'knee length', 'blue', 'satin'… _'Oooooh, satin.' _Castle was suddenly alert, tuned in.

"That sounds gorgeous, Lanie. You'll look stunning I'm sure."

"Thanks, sweetie. I hope you're right! Now, what are we going to get you to wear?"

"I've been asking myself the same question." Beckett sighed. "I was thinking either the one we saw when we went shopping last week or that dark purple one I have."

"The one that you wore to my cocktail night?"

"Yeah, the one that's cut down to here" Beckett told the M.E., dragging her fingers from her collar bones to the space between her breasts in a deep V-shape. "Only problem is, do I want to go to a wedding without wearing a bra?"

Castle's eyes widened in shock and he felt like he was watching a tennis match as they bounced back and forth between the two women as the verbal rally got fully underway. Beckett and Lanie exchanged an unnoticeable smirk, a sure sign their plan to get under Rick Castle's skin was working.

"Who needs a bra when you are as drop dead gorgeous as you are when you wear that number, girl. The way it hangs off your body, highlights _all _your best features. You're sure to have all the groomsmen falling at your feet."

"Hahaha, oh Lanie. I don't want to get my hands on _all_ the groomsmen."

"Sure thing, the best man's gonna be at the mercy of these bad boys" she waved her hands in the air and wriggled her fingers. "The _real _best man that is, not the one Jenny's making him have."

"You can have Espo, he's all yours" Beckett chuckled, "But I want the handsomest, most charming man with the strongest hands in that church…and I don't mean God."

"Mm-mm-mmmm, but he sure is heavenly!" Lanie added with a wink. "Hmm, in that case I'm not so sure. Maybe you should go with the other one. You know, the one that has the thigh high split. But then…where would you keep your gun?"

"Oh, there are _plenty _of places to hide that baby. Not so many where I could get to it without flashing a few of the goods, but I'm willing to take one for the team."

Castle spluttered, almost choking on his iced tea and sending a shower of it across the table.

"Jeez, Castle. What's wrong with you?" blurted Beckett in feigned abhorrence, mopping the table with a napkin and a suppressed grin.

"Is it just me or is it getting hot in here?" Castle, now visibly flustered, had loosened his collar and was fanning his face.

"No, I'm good. Hungry though, I'll go put our order in." Kate announced before walking away and out of ear shot.

"Can't handle the _Heat_?" jibed Lanie, taunting him with his own creation.

"Talking of _Heat" _he leaned across the table to reduce the distance between them so he could speak even quieter. "I'm doing some…character research and I think you could help me out a bit."

Lanie raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Go on."

"I'm on a mission to find Kate's Magic Number. She challenged me to work it out before Ryan and Jenny say 'I do'." Castle whipped out his trusty notebook, flipped to the page entitled 'Beckett List'. "This is where you come in. I've already got the names of these guys…" he turned the notebook so it was the right way up for Lanie to read and ran his fingers down the list. "…from Ryan, Esposito and my own knowledge. Now I need you to fill in a few more gaps for me since you two are bezzie mates and all and I _know _how much girls talk…how much _you _talk." He bit his bottom lip, smiled hopefully.

"Let me see that." She demanded, taking the pocket-sized pad from his hands. She studied it for a moment, muttering the names of the men as she read them and then let out a loud, roaring laugh.

"Sssshhh! Keep it down! She doesn't know I'm pursuing it. I think she thinks I just let it drop when she refused to tell me."

"You've got some nerve boy, I'll tell you that much. Of course she knows you're pursuing it. Trust me. She knows you well enough to know you won't let it go until you get the full story. She'll be expecting an answer."

"Well…"

"Well, you got most of them right but she didn't sleep with that Dan guy."

"She didn't? But Ryan and Espo said-"

"I don't care what those guys said. It was a fair assumption to make, but as her best friend, I'm telling you – she didn't sleep with him."

"Really? But why? I heard they were together for like six months or something."

"They were."

"But six months is a long time to be with someone and not…you know."

"Why do you think the girl broke up with him?"

"She broke up with a guy because he wouldn't sleep with her?"

"Not exactly…she broke up with him because he couldn't…" she nodded her head in the direction of his pants and let her eyes fall to his crotch.

"No way! Really?"

"Really really. That girl has needs, and I mean neeeeeds. She's a firecracker just waiting to explode. She couldn't be dealing with incompetence from folk at home as well as at work."

"Yeah, but to break up with a guy because-"

"Six months, Castle. Six. Months. Besides, I heard word on the grapevine that he's gay now so it's a good job she didn't hold out for him."

"Wow, I never would have thought."

"I know of this one guy she was seeing before she joined the Academy too, Parker someone-or-other."

Castle scribbled the name on his list and put a line through 'Dan'.

"She started seeing him in Sophomore year of college and they went to-"

"KATE!" Castle blurted out a little too loudly so as to cut off Lanie and distract Beckett in the same motion while he hid the notebook under the table. "You're back."

"Yeah…" she sounded suspicious and unsure. "What were you two talking about?"

"Just about how I need to get a decent picture of you to stick up on the wall of this place" he improvised. "All the writers that hung out here are on these walls, I think it's about time we start putting muses on the wall too. Lanie doesn't think you'll be up for it though, she says you'll find it too much of a show, too flashy."

"Hmm. You should listen to Lanie, maybe she can talk some sense into you coz I haven't been able to the last 3 years." Castle was relieved that Beckett seemed to be buying his story. "I'll be back in a minute, I'm just going to go to the bathroom before the food gets here."

This time, as soon as the door to the bathrooms closes over it's Lanie leaning over the table to Castle.

"Boy, you don't have a clue do you. You better watch yourself, Castle. You don't want to graduate from this table to mine down in the Morgue do you?"

* * *

**A/N Let me know what you think! Although I have a pretty good idea of where I'm taking this, I would really appreciate it if you guys could either PM/review to let me know what number you consider 'acceptable' so I can alter the current plan if my thinking is waay out of whack. Thanks again for reading :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N Sorry this took a while guys - got caught up in the Jubilee celebrations and school holidays but it's here now. Enjoy!**

Having barely survived lunch and the rest of the working day, Castle was grateful to retire to the relative peacefulness of his loft. It was still early, not yet 5.30 but the afternoon had been unnecessarily painful what with Kate taking every opportunity to torment him that she could. Never before had Castle been so grateful to receive a call from Gina (calling as his publisher) that pulled him out of the Precinct. Being the grand story-teller that he is, Castle spun a tale to the Detectives of the 12th about how important it was that he make this meeting, how he has a 'real job' too…in reality, all that was needed was an 'OK' on his latest author photo for the jacket of his next novel – something he'd normally have dismissed and left up to the publishing house.

Castle threw himself down on the sofa, relaxed into the cushions and pulled out his notebook. He read and re-read the same pages that had been taunting him all day. He had one more day to find the answer. Well, technically it was a little more but he wouldn't be able to do any investigating on the morning of the wedding, so that just left tomorrow to get it right. He sighed to himself and lay the notebook on his chest, lost in thought.

* * *

He must have dozed off because the next thing Castle was aware of was Martha and Alexis falling through the front door with arms full of shopping bags. Of course, the two had gone dress shopping.

"Hey Dad!" beamed Alexis, leaning over the back of the sofa so she could see her father.

"Hey Pumpkin. Successful shopping trip I take it?"

"Of course! Well, not initially. We looked everywhere and had no luck until right at the end when we hit JDF's on Madison and oh my goodness, Dad. I just totally fell in love with this dress."

"I'm glad to hear it, although I doubt my bank balance will be as happy." Alexis reached over the sofa and picked up the notebook off her still drowsy father's chest.

"Dad? What is this?" Castle sat bolt upright and snatched it back but wasn't quick enough. "The 'Beckett List'?"

"Oh, er, that's nothing. Nothing that concerns you. Didn't you have a dress to show me?"

"Nice try on the distraction there, Dad but you'll have to do better than that. It's definitely something otherwise you wouldn't be trying to hide it from me. I thought we didn't have secrets?"

"_We _don't. Beckett does." His famously cheeky grin spread across his face and he had a little sparkle in his eye.

"Don't tell me you're doing something that's going to get you in trouble with her again, Dad."

"No, no" he nonchalantly brushed the thought from his mind before conceding "Ok, maybe. But it was her idea!" Alexis tilted her head slightly and stared that motherly 'you-know-how-this-is-going-to-end' stare at him. When did she get so good at that? And where had she picked it up? It most certainly wasn't Martha – she all but encouraged mischievous behaviour.

"Did she really or do you just _think _she told you to?"

"She practically dared me to do it. You know it's against the law to turn down a dare and working in a building full of cops I figured it'd be best not to get into anything illegal again."

"You know when a woman dares you to do something she almost always intends for you to do the opposite? It's not the good kind of dare, it's a 'just you try it and see what happens to you' kind of dare. You know I'm always right about these things, you should trust me on this." Castle was speechless. Even now, Alexis still took him by surprise with her maturity and insights. He should expect it but it still shakes him a little when she tries to get through to him like this. Seeing her Dad was taking it all in, Alexis leaned in and planted a gentle kiss on his forehead before returning to her cheery teenage self.

"So, that dress? You have to see it! I'm going to go put it on." And then she was gone, bag in hand and off up the stairs faster than Castle could react.

"You know that girl has a point, Richard." Martha told her son as she strolled through from the kitchen. "But when have you ever been one to leave things be?"

He chuckled, "Huh, never."

"Just what is it you're up to anyway? Can't be that bad, surely?"

"Nothing much, just a little investigating."

"Now why don't I like the sound of that?"

"Because I'm digging into Kate's background again...BUT, not in a bad way."

"Nothing good ever comes from digging, Kiddo. You should know that."

"I know, I know, I just can't help myself."

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you. You never know what skeletons you'll find in someone else's closet."

"Trust me mother, there are definitely no skeletons in that closet. No cobwebs either from what I can tell."

Martha just looked at him from across the room before heading towards the stairs.

"I'm not even going to ask."

* * *

Castle was awoken by the ringing of his phone.

"Go away, I'm sleeping." He mumbled, rolling over and taking the pillow with him to cover his ears. It kept ringing. Castle glanced at the clock on his bedside table – 6.00am – before he tried to read the caller I.D. The light from the screen was too bright for him to focus on, his eyes squinting through the darkness and streaming a little at the unexpected illumination. He slid his thumb across the bottom of the screen to pick up the call. He knew that a call at this time of night could only mean one thing: Beckett. A body had dropped and she picked up the call. So now he had to pick up the call too.

"The butler did it." He answered, groggy and voice still hoarse from sleep and then hung up. Basking in the once again silent and dark room, Castle fell back to sleep so quickly his phone was still in his hand.

There it was again, the incessant ringing. This time, it startled him awake since he hadn't quite managed to achieve his full slumber mode. "Hello?"

"The butler did it? Is that seriously how you answer the phone these days, Castle?"

"Beckett, hi."

"…and you hung up on me, Castle. What is with that? You know, I don't have to call you in for cases remember, you're the one that wanted to do it. If you wanna quit then I'm not stopping you, all you have to do is –"

"What is it, Beckett." Castle sighed, he was sleep deprived and in no mood for her female politics and rants.

"I got a body. Well, we're two actually. And there is no butler, so it's nothing to do with him. I'll text you the address."

"I'll see you in 30." He said and hung up for the second time.

Castle dragged himself out of bed and into the first clothes he could find, walking into his chest of drawers on his way out the door. He really needed to get a lamp or something. His phone pinged to indicate an incoming message: Early Bird Café, 29th + Madison.

Castle pulled out his notebook, tore out a clean sheet and scrawled a quick message to Alexis: 'Body drop call from Beckett. Have a great day, see you after school.' and he pinned it to the refrigerator using a picture magnet of himself and a four year old Alexis at the zoo.

* * *

Considering the address that Beckett had sent him, Castle figured it was in poor taste to stop off and get coffee this morning – death in a coffee shop was bad enough for business, there was no need to rub salt in the wound. Beckett would understand.

When the taxi pulled up a block away, Castle paid the driver and walked the rest of the way up. Normally when he met Beckett at the scene, the street in the surrounding area was too busy for cab drivers (or anyone else for that matter) to get too close so he always got out a block early for ease of purpose.

Today was different. Rounding the corner onto 29th Street, Castle was surprised at the lack of activity. It wasn't at all what he had expected to find. He pulled out his phone and double checked the address. Hmm, it definitely read '29th and Madison'. He continued his walk until he was standing across the street from the Early Bird Café.

No cop cars. No crime scene tape. No Crown Vic. No crime scene techs. No Ryan or Esposito. Castle dialled Beckett's number.

It rang three times before she picked up.

"Beckett"

"Are you sure you sent me the correct address? I'm standing across the street and no one else is here."

"I'm here, Castle. Come on over."

He started across the street, careful to dodge the cyclist heading his way.

"Are you sure? It looks pretty quiet around here to me."

"Yes, I'm sure, Castle. I can see you."

"Ok, ok. I'm coming in….Where? There's no police in here at all." He ventured in a little further and looked around, confused. The phone went dead as the call dropped.

"That's where you're wrong." Beckett stood up from a table she was sharing just behind him. "I'm a cop. I'm here."

"You're in sweats." He stated, unsure of what else to say.

"I know why you stole my phone." She retaliated.

Now he was really baffled. Something was off about this whole situation. There were no other investigators around, Beckett wasn't in her uniform and what she just said was completely random. How very not-Beckett.

"What, no coffee this morning? Disappointed, Castle."

"We're at a coffee shop, I thought it might be distasteful to bring another company's produce in when-"

"Yeah ok, I get the picture."

"Here. Good job we got you one already." The woman sat at Beckett's table turned and held out a cup to him.

Castle was stunned, once again lost for words. How come he kept getting himself into these situations lately?

"This is the part where you usually take it and say thank you." Beckett stage whispered at him and pulled out a chair between the two women, indicating that he should sit. For probably the first time ever, he actually did as he was told.

"Good morning, Rick" Madison smiled at him.

"Morning…"

"It is a good morning, isn't it?" Beckett smirked at him across the table.

"I thought you said that there were two bodies?"

"Bex, one. Me, two. I know you're a writer, Rick but surely counting to two isn't out of your reach?"

"So Madison and I were taking a run this morning when she mentioned something I found most intriguing."

'_Here it comes.' _Castle thought.

"She said you left her a message, that you had some questions for her."

"Yeah, I asked if she'd maybe like to go for dinner or something. And she never called me back anyway, so don't go losing your head."

"No, you asked her to 'meet up or something' _and _that you had some questions for her." Beckett's detective voice was definitely back. "Well here she is, why don't you ask her now?"

"I…I forgot what I was going to ask. It's too early in the morning, Kate."

"Wrong answer, try again."

Castle looked pleadingly at Madison for an out but she was just as sadistic as Lanie when it came to watching him squirm under the wrath of Kate Beckett. She sat there, sipping her coffee, trying to keep from laughing at him and breaking Beckett's flow of interrogation.

"Maybe…" Beckett continued, "the answer is in that little book of yours. Why don't you take it out and have a look?"

"No, it's definitely not."

"Oh, but I think it is." She was almost teasing him now and it wasn't fair. He couldn't resist her at the best of times, but early in the morning and when he wasn't fully aware of what he was doing? It was cruel, plain and simple. "Come on, Castle! Give it up. I know what you're doing."

"I'm not doing anything. I'm sitting here, drinking coffee – which actually isn't all that bad – and wishing I was back in my bed. Sleeping. Peacefully."

"You know, I'm actually kinda impressed you're pursuing this. I thought you'd have dropped it and moved on already. How many do you think you've figured out?"

Castle crumbled. He knew when he was defeated and this was it. He pulled the notebook out and showed it to Madison, careful to keep it from Beckett's prying eyes.

"Hey, he's pretty good." Madison chipped in.

"Don't say that, his ego is big enough."

"So what did you need to ask me?"

He had been enjoying his little bit of detective work until now. Sure it had landed him in a few sticky situations, but none as awkward as this.

Feeling evermore uneasy, Castle caught Beckett's eye. "I'm not going to ask while you're here!"

"Why not? I've let you observe countless interrogations, time to repay your debt."

"But this is…personal."

"I know, _my _personal." He couldn't tell whether she was angry or not. She sounded…irritated, maybe even frustrated, but then she rarely meant it when she snapped at him.

'_Jeez, why do women have to be so complicated?' _

"I didn't ring you back because I forgot to write down your number before I erased the message." Madison finally offered an ending to his pain, a way out.

"Oh, here. Let me write it down for you." Castle searched for a pen. He'd left it in his other jacket.

"Here" Madison reached over and grabbed one that someone had left on the table next to them along with the crossword it had been used to complete.

She looked up at him expectantly, his cue to read her his number. Beckett was in a bit of a huff at this point, sat back with one arm crossed in front of her, the other holding her coffee.

As he dictated the digits, Madison frantically wrote on the page.

"Thanks!" she said, tearing a random page from the book and folding it into her palm.

Puzzled by what she had just done, Castle flicked through his notebook – Madison hadn't written his number at all. She'd amended his Beckett List. Right under Beckett's nose, oooh, she was not going to be happy with that when she realised. For now though, Castle was _very _happy. He was pretty satisfied that Madison had just provided him with the final pieces of his jigsaw and he couldn't help but feel a little proud of himself for all the hard work he'd put in.

"Maybe I'll call you sometime. Or you can call me if you have any more questions..." Madison waved the paper at him and raised her eyebrows knowingly, hoping that Castle had gotten the hint she'd left him. She got up to leave, finished the remnants of her coffee and disposed of the cardboard cup. She gathered her few things before hugging Kate goodbye and excusing herself. "I have to go, I have a big food delivery coming in at 8 and I really should shower before heading into work. This was nice, we should do it again sometime – the run I mean."

Beckett sat forward and propped her forearms on the table, raised the hand with her coffee in as a half-hearted acknowledgement to Madison's proposition.

"Rick," Madison leaned over and pecked his cheek. "A pleasure, as always." The twinkle returned to his eyes and his flirtatious smile had finally awoken.

"Always." He winked at her. And with that, the blonde was gone.

Castle turned to find Beckett scowling in his direction.

"Seriously?"

"What?"

"What? You know what!" Beckett stormed out of the Café, leaving Castle alone at the empty table.

Lanie was right. He hadn't known what he was getting into.


	6. Chapter 6

Slightly stunned at the abrupt ending to their morning coffee, Castle made his own way to the Precinct since Beckett had – literally – run off and left him. The time alone gave him the opportunity to think things through, clear his mind a little. He set off up the Avenue in the direction of the 12th, the previously barren streets now showing signs of life. He bustled his way past the early commuters as he became absorbed in his thoughts. He never realised Beckett had such a short fuse. Was it the digging? Had it annoyed her _that _much? She practically told him to do it, all but handed him the list herself. It couldn't be that. She was the one who called him to the coffee shop after all, knowing full well what he'd been up to with Madison. And the location was also her choice so it couldn't have been sharing their morning coffee ritual with someone else…Maybe it was that he didn't bring the coffee, he always brought the coffee.

Always.

Just like that, the error of his ways struck Castle square in the face. He'd told Madison 'always'. His hands came up and cupped the side of his head before he threw them down in frustration. His body followed; bent knees, balled fists, gritted teeth…how could he have been so stupid? Well, he knew the answer to that one – he was forever sticking his foot in it, never knowing when to hold his tongue. That was his biggest downfall as a writer – sometimes the words just slipped out, even when he didn't mean them too. It's just a shame that life doesn't have the same edit/rewrite phase as his books do because this morning could surely do with a second, even a third draft and most definitely an outside eye to steer him back on the right track when he was doing something wrong.

He still had some way to go to get across town to the Precinct so Castle made the conscious decision to let go of his frustration and turn his mind to things more beneficial to getting him off of Beckett's naughty list and well, completing the _other _naughty list. If only his name was on _that _list, then this whole situation would be a whole lot easier to fix. As it isn't, he'd have to get a bit more creative with his apologies.

* * *

More out of habit than conscious thought, Castle found himself in the coffee shop just down the street from the Precinct. They'd only finished their first cup of the day less than an hour ago, but he couldn't quite bring himself to walk onto the homicide floor for the first time that day without the ritualistic cardboard cup steaming in his hand. That and he didn't want to add fuel to the fire.

Stepping out of the elevator, his eyes darted to Beckett's desk. Her chair sat vacant. He scanned the bullpen for her but came up empty. He did catch sight of Espo though, eating a pastry of some sort – no doubt his 'on-the-go' breakfast.

"Esposito" he glanced up, taking a bite of his pastry. "Seen Beckett?" Castle enquired.

"Nah man, her gear's here though." Espo swallowed then took another bite. "Maybe she's in the bathroom? I dunno, I just got here."

"She looked pretty heated when I saw her." Ryan chipped in, strolling from the break room, coffee in hand. "She slung her stuff down and stomped off. My guess is she's in the gym. She likes to beat it out when she's tense."

"Tense, right." Castle breathed.

"What'd you do bro?"

"Nothing. Nothing I can't fix. Slip of the tongue, that's all."

"Dude, you slipped her the tongue?" Esposito dropped his pastry on his desk, Ryan choked on his drink, "It's barely 8am!"

Before Castle could respond, both Detectives were standing before him – Espo with his arms folded across his chest, Ryan hands on hips, both staring him down.

"I, wha-, no!" he spluttered, trying to make sense of what just went down. The boys took a step closer to him, backing him into a closed door. "Easy, easy! Can we tone down the tough guy a little?"

"Depends," Ryan spoke up. "What 'slip of the tongue' could make Beckett so mad?"

"Hey guys, listen. It's not what you think." Castle sounded so desperate it was enough to make _him _think he'd done something he hadn't.

The sweat began to bead on his forehead, a lump formed in the back of his throat.

"Really? Don't tell me what I'm thinking, punk." Esposito squared up to Castle, a pointed finger so close to Castle's face that it made his eyes cross.

"I-I'm not, I'm not. She conned me into coffee with her and one of her old friends this morning. Things didn't exactly end well when I inadvertently said something to said friend that I probably shouldn't. I wasn't thinking. Kate…Beckett" he corrected himself, "she ran off before I even realised what I'd done wrong. But don't worry, I'll fix it. I will. I'll make things right again."

Ryan and Esposito backed off a tad.

"You just make sure you do, right?" Ryan warned him.

"Yeah, coz we'll be coming for you if you don't. Understand, Writer Boy?"

"A-absolutely." Castle gulped, straightening himself out as the guys stepped back.

"Hey, Castle." At the call of his name he looked up to see Espo pointing up the stairs at the far end of the corridor. "Gym's that way."

* * *

Even before he got there, Castle could hear Beckett pounding on the punch bag. The quick succession of beats let him know just how upset she really was. He quietly approached the door to the gym and peered through the little gap where it wasn't quite closed properly. He knew he needed to tread carefully and be tactical, but something about the 'uh' s and 'argh's – amongst other peculiar noises – coming from Beckett caused childish laughter to bubble in his chest before snorting out his nose when he couldn't contain it any longer.

The beating stopped.

Castle clasped his hand over his mouth to create a sound barrier, ducked into the shadows afforded to him by the dimly lit hallway. He lay low, waiting for the moment to pass.

Beckett returned to her punch bag and the frenzy of blows resumed.

Just as he was beginning to feel on safe ground again, Castle's phone vibrated in his pocket and he knew he had two vibrations to catch it before the tune began to ring out. He fumbled around for the device and managed to hit the answer button after the first note of the ringtone sounded. In his haste, the phone fell through his hands and tumbled to the floor. Castle stuck his foot out to break its fall, muffle the sound as best he could. The phone hit his shoe and bounced on the hard wood with a dull thud. _ Could've been worse. _He thought as he bent down to pick it up.

"Hello? Alexis? Are you still there?" he whispered

"Yeah, Dad. Hey. Why are you whispering?"

"SSSSHHHHHHH!"

"Why are you shushing me? I'm not there, Dad. Your 'shush' is louder than the noise you're trying to shush."

"Alright!" he hissed. "Just keep it down will you. Listen, can I call you back?"

"Erm, ok. Sure, why not. Just don't take all day, I want to run something by you."

"No problem. Catch you later." And he hung up the phone, taking in the silence. He turned back to the door and squinted through the gap, only to meet a dark pair of eyes. Beckett was standing at the door, her frosty gaze piercing right through him.

"Boo." Her voice was calm and quiet yet so loud in relation to the delicate hush it had broken.

The shock caused him to visibly jump backwards and let out a slight yelp. He should have known she was on to him when he'd hung up the phone – if only he'd registered the consequence of the silence, the absence of her grunts. _Rookie mistake._

She pulled the door ajar, grabbed Castle by his collar and dragged him in behind her.

"What you waiting for, Writer Boy. Get in here."

Beckett left Castle in the middle of the gymnasium, looking a tad confused to say the least. The lighting in here is so harsh and unforgiving compared to the corridor he was just plucked from. It took a moment or so for his eyes to adjust to the brightness and for him to stop squinting.

When she reappeared, Beckett threw a pair of black shorts and a t-shirt she'd acquired from the 'lost and found' in Castle's direction. "Locker room is over there" she directed.

It was clear to Castle that there was no room for objection here, and given his mishap this morning, doing as he was told was his best option for redemption.

* * *

Upon his return to the gym, Castle found Beckett waiting for him on the mat. He couldn't help but feel like he was about to be thrown to the lions and mauled. But this was Beckett, she wouldn't hurt him, right? And he was twice her size so would undoubtedly have some advantage over the Detective… He tried to calm his fears, not let her see that he felt more than a little out of his depth here. Animals, they can smell fear and that is exactly what Castle was trying to avoid.

Standing awkwardly at the edge of the mat in his too-tight shorts and skimpy t-shirt, Castle could hear Beckett sniggering at him.

"Oh, now you're just throwing my game off. I can't focus properly when you look like the Hulk in a 7 year olds pajamas."

"My muscles distracting you Detective Beckett?"

"No, more like the straining seams on them shorts, I'm worried it's gonna give way any minute now…"

"Well, it's not as if I was planning this get-up is it?"

"Come on now, lighten up."

"What do you want, Beckett. Why'd you make me put this on?"

Then he had his answer. Quick as a flash, Beckett was across the mat and had Castle flat on his back staring up at the ceiling and her looming stature. He sat up, shaking it off as best he could.

"What was that for?" he complained.

"A lesson, Mr Castle." And in a swift move, she'd had his arm behind his head and had flipped him round and down onto his back again.

"OWWW" he exclaimed, a mixture equal parts pain and disbelief.

"Oh, Castle. You ain't seen nothing yet."

This time though, Castle was faster. He used his legs to sweep Beckett's feet from under her, sending her crashing to the floor with an almighty thud and winding her slightly.

"Oh my gosh, are you ok? I didn't mean to get you that bad." A worried Castle leant over Beckett as she gasped for air.

"I'm….fine" she rasped, getting her legs around Castle's neck in the process, dragging him back to the mat with her and causing them both to fall sideways. "Just some jackass…ruined…my mood…this morning." Her words were strained, forced out between the holds and twists, flips and locks they were forcing on one another.

"I'm…sorry, ok?" Castle seized the opportunity caused by Beckett's lapse in concentration to free himself of the legs she'd wrapped around his head. "I…didn't mean to…say that to…Madison" By this stage, he'd gained the upper hand. "I was…just…using her own…words to…reply." Castle had Beckett pinned to the floor face up, holding her by her elbows and straddling her at the waist. She stared back at him intently, both of them trying to control their rapid breathing. "It just made sense…to say that." Castle heaved. "It didn't mean the same…thing to her as it…does to you and me."

Beckett softened and allowed her body to go limp. Castle released his grip, sat back on his heels, careful not to sit on Beckett. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. You know how I get with my motor mouth."

She nodded, gently and Castle breathed a sigh of relief. A moment entirely too soon.

Beckett brought her legs up and clamped down hard around Rick's chest and sat up, causing him to fall backwards and into the mat. With a twist of her hips, she turned him over, leaving him planted face first into the ground, the force of her fury unrivalled. Castle kicked his legs up to try and get hold of her from behind but she was sitting too high up on his body for his limbs to reach. She grabbed his flailing legs and tucked them under herself, leaning them into his body and effectively folding the man in two. Her next move saw her expertly take his arms and pin them behind his back, under his legs. The phrase 'fish out of water' suited Castle exactly as he tried to flop around the mat and free himself – with no such luck.

"Tell me," she asked between pants, "Exactly _how_ far…have you got with this…list of yours?"

"Far enough" Castle mumbled into the mat as he tried to turn his head sideways so he could at least get some more air into his severely compressed lungs.

"Names, Castle…I want names."

"No can do…Detective. You have to wait…until 'I do'…remember?"

She pushed down harder on his legs, the resulting strain in his quadriceps made him cry out.

"Aaah! I have a deadline! …A deadline you set…and you know…I'm never early for a deadline…you should know that…by now."

"Who knows?"

"No one... No one."

She grasps a handful of hair at the back of his head and pulls it up. "Who've you been talking to about it?"

"Owww, owww, owww" Beckett releases him slightly, enough to ease the crick now in his neck. "The boys, Lanie…that's it!" She tightens her grip again, pulls back on his head more. "I swear!"

"Well make sure it stays that way." She warns before releasing him completely. Castle, worn out and in a considerable amount of pain (it's been a while since he's been restrained by such an attractive woman), rolls over and 'starfishes' on the mat, taking in huge lung fulls of air. He lies there, eyes closed wandering how the heck this just happened – and frankly, he doesn't have a clue.

Suddenly, Castle is aware of Beckett once again. Her foot rested heavily on his chest. She bends down and locks her eyes on him.

Her voice is calm and steady but deadly serious. "Just remember, Castle. I can take you. Any. Time. I. Like."

"Is that a threat, Detective?"

"I don't do threats, Mr Castle. I do promises."

Now was it just Castle, or was that a twinkle in her eye?

* * *

_**A/N **_

_**Hi everyone. I just wanted to say thanks for sticking with this if you've made it this far. I'm off on holiday for a few weeks so it will be a short while before the next update. I hope you enjoyed this though and hold out for the ending! To everyone that has reviewed - thank you! I love reading all your comments and knowing what you think. Have a great summer folks.**_

_**A**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N Hi everyone, so here's the next installment for you all. I've been arguing with myself for days as to whether or not to split it into two chapters or not. In the end, the length decided it for me and I thought it would be best to break it down so I'll post the next part in a day or so since it's already written and ready to go - no waiting this time! :) As always, I hope you all enjoy this next stage in the invetigation, **_

_**A**_

* * *

Wincing as he walked, Castle made his way back to the bullpen with Beckett. The two of them hadn't said a word since she'd handed him his ass on a plate not thirty minutes ago.

Strolling down the stairs and onto the Homicide Floor, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Ryan and Esposito were at their desks working (if you take 'work' to mean making 'fighter jets' out of paper and seeing whose got the furthest), Gates was shut up in her office as usual and a few other cops were milling around doing various odd jobs from filing to photocopying and every mundane task in between.

Confused and a little stunned by the silence from Castle and Beckett (getting one of them to stop talking long enough to breathe was hard enough, but both of them?), Ryan put his life on the line and hazarded a probe at the pair.

"Good time at the gym?" he braced himself for the tongue lashing he was sure was to follow. He could see Espo out the corner of his eye giving him the 'rookie-mistake' look, shaking his head slightly as he did so.

"Great, actually." Beckett replied, which just led to even more caution and confusion from the members of the resident bromance. "Haven't had a work out like that in forever. Ain't that right, Castle?"

"Speak for yourself" the writer mumbled under his breath.

"So, you guys are alright?" Esposito questioned.

"Do I look alright to you?" Castle groaned as he sat down, clearly feeling the strain in his legs from where Beckett had overstretched them and torn his muscles slightly.

Ryan and Esposito glanced inquisitively at Beckett hoping for a reasonable explanation as to Castle's inability to walk.

The trio exchanged looks for a moment before Castle – feeling as if he was about to be excluded from the 'cool kids' club and destined to a lifetime of Swirlies and Noogies – interrupted them.

"She ambushed me!"

"Please, I did not ambush you! Ambushed implies I only took you down because I had the element of surprise." Beckett said indignantly.

"You did so!"

"Did not!"

"Dude, you got your ass beat by a woman." Esposito chuckled.

Castle and Beckett both sent piercing stares his way and he was caught out like a deer in headlights.

"I didn't..I didn't mean that. I just meant-"

"It had nothing to do with her being a woman" Castle interjected.

"No, but it had everything to do with _you _being one" Beckett mumbled under her breath.

"Hey, that was uncalled for!"

"Really, Princess?" He regretted saying it as soon as the words passed his lips. Having already dug his metaphorical grave, Esposito decided now was the time to back off before he began handing out the hammer and nails to seal his coffin and giving a dollar for the privilege.

Castle turned his attention back to Beckett.

"You think I was prepared for what you just did to me?"

Ryan and Espo exchanged awkward looks, one of which definitely said 'What the heck happened in that gym?' and another from Esposito screamed 'Look what you've gone and done now!'. Ryan had to admit, he deserved that one. If he had just left them be, they'd have been scowling at each other the rest of the afternoon, clocked off around 6pm and come back like two 'normal' people in the morning. He made a mental note to just act as if nothing had happened the next time Mom and Dad had a fight. He also made a second note – _never _wonder what they get up to alone.

* * *

Once they'd finally settled, the rest of the day at the Precinct was pretty uneventful; Ryan continued to gaze longingly at anything that so much as resembled food, Esposito continued to taunt him with doughnuts and the likes, Beckett ignored everyone while sat hunched over her desk devouring a mountain of paper work and Castle – still nursing his ego – took up his usual seat by her side and tried to distract her long enough to coax information out of her.

No such luck.

It was about 4.30pm when he decided to get into his own paperwork. He flipped out his notebook and studied his 'Beckett List'.

_Josh, Demming, Sorenson, Nathan, Mr T (sorry, _Matt_), Parker-someone-or-other and _not _Dan._

It was progression at least but he had less than 24 hours until his deadline.

Remembering his rather uncomfortable encounter at the Early Bird Café on 29th, he flipped a few pages further in his notebook.

And there it was; Madison's little addition. Two little words. Two little words that would brighten his day.

_Gianluca Vitali._

Now, he was no expert but Castle was pretty sure that this was an Italian name. As far as he knew, Beckett had never been to Italy so how – and more to the point _when _– had she encountered _this _guy?

But what could he do with just a name? There's no story to a name. Without a story, it's just a bunch of letters strung together into words with no meaning. There was more to this and he was going to find it.

He pondered over the list a while longer and fended off nosy questions from the others but he just wasn't getting any further with this whole investigating business.

"What do you do when you have no breaks in a case, you've been staring at the board for hours and still have no new ideas?" Castle mused aloud to no one in particular.

"Take a break, bro"

"Yeah, go home. Get a bite to eat, kick back with a beer…" Ryan drifted off into his own dreamland.

"I usually have to listen to these ridiculous theories churned out by this writer that follows me around all the time. Kind of annoying, actually."

"Now, now" warned Espo, "You two have been playing nicely all afternoon, don't go ruining it now."

"Fine," Kate huffed. "I go back to the beginning, look over things I hadn't considered before. You've been tailing me for years now, Castle. You know how I work."

"I do, and I know that you sit for hours going over the same thing again and again. Not me, not today." Struck by a moment of inspiration, he gathered his few belongings from the area surrounding Beckett's desk and struggled to his feet, doing his best to ignore the pain in his battered legs. "It's 5:45; I make that home time."

"Oh?" she didn't understand; he never left before she did unless it was for Alexis or a meeting with Black Pawn, even if they'd fallen out or driven each other crazy he stuck it out til she called it a night. Why should today be so different?

"If you do what you've always done, Detective, you'll get what you've always had."

* * *

Having decided a change of tact was in order, Castle set about formulating a new, last minute plan to try and seal the deal on this number business.

It wasn't going to be flashy or 'out there' but he had to be…different.

Google.

Working on the proviso that 'If Google doesn't know, no one does', Castle thought it was a pretty safe bet that he could at least get _somewhere _by following this line of investigation.

Back at his loft with his feet up, his laptop on his knees and Chinese take-out at his side, Richard Castle settled down for a night of private investigating.

_If only I had all the fancy P.I. gadgets, _he thought to himself as he felt a pang of jealousy towards the real P.I's of the world. In all his daydreaming he'd let the Chinese food container tip over on his sofa, the juice staining its surface and the noodles falling through the cracks between the cushions. That'll teach him to pay attention.

He cleaned himself up as best he could and decided that he was definitely _not _made for multi-tasking. He scoffed the remainder of his dinner at the breakfast bar in the kitchen and changed into his pajama pants (he'd cleverly sat in the Chinese food) before returning to the laptop to make a proper start.

Opening up his browser, he decided it was best to start with just the basics. Tapping the name of Beckett's mystery suitor into the search engine didn't turn up much. Besides, he didn't really know anything about this guy apart from his name – he could have been any one of the hundreds of thousands of hits that appeared.

His next attempt coupled Vitali and Beckett's names in the search…still no luck.

_Maybe Google doesn't know everything…_

Hold on a second…Madison knew Kate in college. New search combination – Kate Beckett + college.

Clicking through the search results, he came across various links relating to newspaper articles and academic papers but nothing useful for his current quest. He did however make a note to himself to go back and read what the internet had to say about his favourite Detective in her earlier years. Why had he never thought to Google her before? He'd searched for Ryan and Esposito (who turned out to be quite the baseball player back in the day) but never for her. Curious.

Moving swiftly on, Castle clicked on a tonne of other links, none of which came to anything much. The next thing he's aware of is X rated flashing images flickering across his screen and a series of noises that can only be likened to the animals he'd taken Alexis to visit at Central Park Zoo. How had he ended up with this on his screen?

He frantically clicked his way across the screen, anything to try and shut it off. Hitting the mute button on his computer hadn't worked either and the more he tried to get rid of it, the louder it seemed to him. Oh dear God.

"Erm, Dad? You know I'm here, right?" Alexis called over from the arm chair she was reading in.

"Yes! Yes I know you're there!"

"Kinda inappropriate for the living room don't you think?"

"I didn't mean…I wasn't looking for that! I-"

Seeing that her father was becoming more flustered by the second, Alexis decided to put him out of his misery. Stepping over the cable stretched between their two chairs she took the laptop from Rick's hands and sat down next to him.

"Hey! Hey! I don't want you looking at that!"

"Dad, I'm 18."

"I know you're 18 but that doesn't mean I want you watching things like this!"

"I'm not watching it, Dad." Always the cool headed and calm one of the two of them, Alexis unplugged the laptop from the mains and removed the battery – all while keeping her eyes averted from the screen. The picture gave way to black and the sound cut out, leaving only the gentle background noise of the TV humming quietly from the other side of the room.

"Ahhh, thank you!" Castle breathed a huge sigh of relief. Alexis simply smiled a knowing smile at him as the redness began to subside from her father's cheeks.

"Blushing, Dad?"

"No, I-…Can you help me fix it?"

"Sure, just give me a minute and I'll reboot it all for you."

She re-hooked up the power cable and set about restoring the computer to an earlier time point.

"I was looking up something about Detective Beckett" Castle confessed.

"I see…and that led to this how?"

"I don't know ok! I was looking up some stuff about Beckett and this guy she knew at college and-"

"You had 'college girl' in your search terms didn't you."

"Maybe." Alexis tilted her head and looked at her father with raised eybrows. "OK, I see where I went wrong. Now can you just fix it?"

She tapped away at the keys a while, throwing in the odd click of the mouse here and there along with the occasional 'Mmmhmmm'.

"You clicked on a virus, Dad."

"See! I told you I wasn't looking for that stuff."

"Not this time."

"No. I – wait! What do you mean not this time?"

"Dad, I get it. I know what guys 'accidentally' look at on the internet"

"No! I don't, I-"

"It says so in your internet history."

_Darn. Outsmarted by an 18 year old. Again. _

"Purely for research purposes. Nikki Heat. You understand."

Alexis continued to work on the computer, restoring it to its pre-virus state.

"Since when was there a chapter in Nikki Heat involving 'sexy nurse in high heels'?" She asked,eyes trained on the screen, still distracted by the restoration process she'd started and not really paying attention to her father or his answer. "Here you go." She handed the laptop back to Castle and started back toward her own lounge chair and the book she'd left balancing over the arm. "You might want to check you haven't lost any of your work. You shouldn't have, but the last chapter might not be the latest version. Oh, and I've set the parental controls for you so you don't 'accidentally' end up harming that innocent brain of yours again."

"Thanks Pumpkin, I owe you one." Castle replied with a sheepish smile on his face.

He turned back to his screen only to see a web page Alexis had left open for him. His eyes lit up at what she'd found for him. He'd said it before and he was sure to say it again, but the girl was a genius. The Alumni webpage. Of course. She'd even found the page that listed Beckett's graduating class and used the tabbed browsing to open up the list of exchange students that had visited in her Freshman Year.

_Alexis, you beauty. _Castle beamed, the embarrassing blush of moments ago replaced by a glow that could rival the Vegas Strip.

* * *

It didn't take long for Castle to set up his own account on the Alumni website; a bit of bluffing here, a white lie there and hey presto, he was in. Some nine thousand plus ex-students had already registered on the site and a further two hundred something exchange students had joined the party. Luckily for Castle, one was _not _Beckett but another was most certainly Signore Vitali himself.

Castle clicked his way through the profile. It all seemed pretty standard.

_Family man. Married. Two sons. From Alba, Italy. Took part in a yearlong exchange to USA. Took over the family business 4 years ago. Amateur photographer… _Nothing out of the ordinary.

He continued to nosy around a bit and stumbled across a few photos Gianluca had uploaded of his time in the US – not surprising really since the man considered himself a photographer. The typical tourist snaps took over his screen in turn, followed by a college football game, Gianluca and a few other exchange students attempting beer pong…Jackpot – Gianluca and co. at a party. But he wasn't just with anyone; Madison was there, token plastic red cup in hand, a couple of guys that Castle knew nothing of and then right there, on the end stood Gianluca with the teenage Kate's arms draped over his shoulders from behind, a leg wrapped round his waist and her mouth to his ear – all while cheekily eyeing up the camera.

'_Well I never' _was all that Castle's mind could process.

Ha! He couldn't believe it. Best not get ahead of himself, he should really read what the man had to say before he went ahead and counted his lucky stars.

He was in luck.

Quickly scanning the lines on his profile, Castle read all the tales that Gian (as he seemed to prefer) had to offer. Between the not so exciting tales of his time in America, he had unwittingly dished the dirt on Beckett.

'Often found in inappropriate places, rolling with the craziest girl on campus' followed by a picture of himself and Kate as teenagers, posing for the camera.

There it was in black and white…well, as subtext really but it was definitely there. Castle chuckled manically to himself – this day couldn't get any better. He had to hand it to himself, he was getting pretty good at this detective business – Beckett better watch her badge.

Not only had he pretty much told Castle that they had a 'friends with benefits' situation for the majority of his year abroad, he'd included some pictures and the golden ticket in terms of Beckett blackmail; a video clip.

Not just any old video clip either, it was titled 'How it all began'.

_Oh, thank you Gian for being a camera nerd and digitising decade old clips. Thank you!_

It was fantastic to see what the beautiful Detective had looked like in her younger days, in a time of carefree youth before her mother was cruelly and unjustly snatched from her but that wasn't so much what he was hoping for and it certainly wasn't the cream of the crop. That lay in the video, he could feel it in his bones.

Castle clicked play on the video and was immediately greeted with scenes from a college party – loud music, alcohol and plenty of rowdy students. The voiceover was heavily accented but Castle could just about make out what was being said above all the noise.

"We come in America four days ago. Tonight we introduced to college life!" the man – presumably Gian – screamed over the disorder. The shot panned the crowd, showed people dancing and playing games. Next thing Castle knew, Kate and Madison were on the screen.

"Woooooooo! Woooooooo!" The girls screamed at the camera, coming in close. Castle had to turn the volume down because the noise was just too much.

"Tonight, we're gonna show you how we do it in America!" Kate slurred a little during her grand announcement.

"You have one minute to kiss all the hot guys you can" Madison explained to an equally drunken female exchange student. To be fair, she seemed pretty game and jumped right in. "You're in charge!" Madison dictated to the cameraman, "You have to count."

Madison went first, racking up what Castle thought was a rather impressive total of eleven. The exchange student was up next and chants of 'Flori, Flori, Flori' rang through Castle's speakers as the other students egged the girl on. Dutifully catching it all on camera, Gian chased the girl through the house, tallying up her score.

"Nove!" The Italian on camera called out – clearly the Europeans weren't so adept at this game as the home nation. "Next up, Kaaate!"

Castle couldn't believe what happened next. Kate jumped up on a table in the centre of the room and called for everyone's attention. Next thing he knew, her top was flying through the crowd and she'd certainly attained the response she was after, standing there in her cropped cami. In the 45 seconds that followed, she'd managed to add sixteen guys to her score before she turned her attention to Gian.

"Welcome to America!" she yelled before launching herself at him. The camera shook and the lens was aimed towards the floor. There was a wobble as the camera changed hands and was retrained on Kate and Gian by some other third party. Kate had time to move on to the other waiting participants in the gathered crowd, but she stuck out the last ten seconds or so with this one.

"Diciassette!" a breathless Gianluca called out when time was signalled by the new cameraman.

"New personal best for Miss Katherine Beckett!" Madison shouted wildly, closing in on the lens. By the time she turned back around, Kate and Gian were nowhere to be seen and the crowd had dissipated as quickly as it had gathered.

Castle rewound the video slightly and took a screen shot of the young Kate playing tonsil tennis with the Italian and printed himself a copy.

Seeing how late it had gotten, Castle shut his laptop down and prepared for bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day and he didn't want to be yawning his way through the church service. He checked in on Alexis as a force of habit (he knew she was 18 and all grown up, but she was still his little girl and he still felt the need to check on her before he went to sleep), left a glass of water and a sandwich on the breakfast bar for his mother when she returned from her latest adventures, shut off the lights and shuffled through the darkness to his bed.

_This game just got a whole lot more interesting_.


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N: As promised, no long wait this time. I had to split the chapters again so this one is a bit shorter...the final chapter would have been over 5000 words had I left it as one. BUT I won't leave you for long, I the final chapter all done and dusted and ready to go but I'll give you a few days to digest this first. Have fun and enjoy the ride - it's nearly over!**_

* * *

The next morning, he woke up kind of late. He wasn't used to lie-ins anymore, not since he started shadowing Beckett and the body drops came calling in the middle of the night. He never understood it; didn't killers like their sleep? The middle of the night was just so inconvenient for everyone, surely a better time could be arranged to suit everyone? Honestly, killers these days have zero consideration. _Anyway…. _

It was around 10.30am when the still groggy Castle finally surfaced from his room and ventured to the kitchen for his brunch – a good dose of coffee, eggs and bacon should do the trick. While his coffee brewed and his bacon fried, Castle reviewed his Beckett list.

Seven names. He was quite proud of what he had achieved in the last few days, despite the few trials and tribulations he'd faced along the way. He actually felt like he'd accomplished something by himself for a change.

Ok, so maybe Alexis had helped a little…and Lanie…and Madison…and Ryan and Esposito. Fine, he hadn't done it by himself, but that didn't mean he couldn't feel a touch of pride.

He strolled over to the printer and picked up the shot he'd print-screened last night, laughing aloud as he recalled the video it had been taken from. He'd also printed the group picture, the one where Kate was wrapped around Gian, simply because he couldn't help himself and he got a bit of a kick out of it. He took a pen and wrote '7' on the back of the group picture and the list of names on the back of the other before slipping it into the envelope, tucking the top in and returning to the kitchen to finish his brunch.

By the time he'd eaten, showered and dressed it had just gone 1pm. Castle decided to swing by the Precinct to check in on his colleagues and deliver a light lunch. He might not have to turn up when there wasn't a body, but the others still had paperwork to fill in and court to prepare for.

Ryan had the day off to prepare for his afternoon nuptials, Beckett was dashing around trying to get the final jobs of the day done before she too could leave and get ready for the wedding and Esposito was still grumbling about Lanie taking a Doctor as her plus one.

"Food's up" Castle called as he dropped Beckett's coffee and a couple of baguettes on the desk. He took up his regular seat at the side of her desk and waited for her to slow down.

"Thanks, Castle" she managed as she trotted past him, grabbing a baguette and accidentally spilling the coffee all over him.

"Ahhh! Ah ahhhh ahhh ah!" he puffed, throwing his scalding jacket off and peeling his burning pants from his legs. "Oww!" he deliberately declared as his wide eyes caught Beckett's. Castle could see the grimace painted across her face, the worry.

He couldn't do it. Who was he kidding, he was no actor – he'd been caught out enough times to know that much was true. The façade was over as his phony pain gave way to amusement.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, you should've… seen… your face!" Castle managed in between his bouts of hysterics.

Beckett was not impressed.

"Castle!" she scolded.

The writer got control of himself and finally managed to stand upright again.

"Whoo," he breathed "It was iced coffee, no sweat." As he bent down to pick his jacket up off the floor, the (slightly soggy) envelope fell out of his pocket.

_Oops._

He hastily snapped it up and tried to pretend that nothing had happened.

"What's that?" Espo asked, nodding his head in the direction of the envelope.

"Er, this? Oh it's nothing."

"Really? Then why'd you scoop it up so fast, anyone would think you had summin' to hide."

"Me? Hide? Never" he tried to sound confident but he wasn't really pulling it off. "I just think you should poke your nose elsewhere."

"Are you forgetting that it's usually _your _nose that's poking where it doesn't belong, writer boy?" Beckett pointed out.

"No, but this time it's my business. It's... different" he shrugged.

"Oh, please. Don't pull any of that. You are your own favourite topic of conversation. "

"I very much regret the implications of that statement, Detective" he teased back, deliberately mocking his partner.

"Come on, Castle!" She planted a playful punch on his bicep, to which Castle responded with an over played act of fictitious pain and the grown man equivalent of puppy-eyes – if there is such a thing. "Just tell me what's in the envelope. We're partners. That means we don't keep secrets."

"Oh it does, does it?" he could feel the tables turning and for once, it was in his favour. "So, since we're partners and all, and that means we don't keep secrets…what's your magic number, Detective?" Beckett scowled at him in the way only she could, not entirely serious yet not entirely joking either.

"That's different."

"Why? Because it's _your _business?" Castle was pushing it and he knew it but he just couldn't help himself.

"Argh, just show me."

"Nope."

"Castle…" she warned.

"Nope" He shuffled over to the chair and sat on his envelope.

"You think that's gonna stop me? Castle, half of it is hanging out the side."

He looked down, realising the flaw in his plan and unsuccessfully tried to adjust his position to offer greater coverage. He tentatively slid his treasure out and made his move.

Beckett tried to pinch the entire envelope from his hand but Castle was ready for her this time and swiftly stuffed the envelope and its contents underneath his shirt.

"Castle, I hunt murderers for a living, don't think your shirt scares me."

"Oooh, Beckett" he tormented, "Not at the Precinct. _You _of all people know the kind of trouble _that _can attract."

She gasped. Surely he couldn't have found _that _out during his little quest? No. He was bluffing, she was sure of it. She'd played poker with him enough times to know his tell…but then she _had _let slip what his tell was so now he knew how to mask it.

Darn it.

No.

Definitely bluffing.

100%.

"Castle, what do you know?" she quizzed.

"Oh, so much, my dear Detective. You know, I never really, truly believed you when you said you were a wild child until now."

"Castle…" she warned yet again.

"You'll have to wait until 'I do'." Castle retaliated, throwing Beckett's own line back at her. Frustrated, Beckett returned to her stack of files and forms. It had been a while since he'd managed to pull one over on her and she hated the fact he'd managed it. Castle got to his feet and headed for the elevator, envelope still under his shirt.

* * *

Returning to his loft in his damp, coffee stained clothes with his sticky envelope, Castle only had a short time to shower (again) and don his suit and tie for the wedding. In his haste he ended up with shampoo in his eye and a cut across two of his fingers after he'd knocked his razor from the shelf and instinctively tried to catch it.

Today really didn't seem to be going his way.

Thankfully, both Alexis and his mother were out so he was able to scurry through to the kitchen and dig out the first aid box without worrying about the fact that he was using a hand towel instead of a bath sheet to cover himself.

He was never really any good at this sort of thing – he always had one of the ladies in his life around to patch him up – but he could mop himself up enough to stop the blood.

The first aid box was fresh out of regular band-aids…

_Powerpuff Girls it is._

Back when Castle had tried to share his superhero interests with his only daughter, she shunned Captain America, Spiderman and even Wonder Woman, all in favour of … the Powerpuff Girls. Castle hadn't ever been ashamed of Alexis, but if he _had_ to name a time when he came close, it would have had to be this.

He wrapped the bright pink and yellow plasters around his fingers and took a brief moment to admire his handy work; it wasn't great, but it did the job.

Time was running out and Castle bounded around the loft like a Springer Spaniel on speed trying to get himself ready in time.

Clean suit – check. Polished shoes – check. Button-hole – check. Wedding gift – check. Phone – check. Keys – check. Envelope…. Ah.

Chasing himself back through the loft and sliding on his varnished floors with his new, un-scuffed soled shoes, Castle lifted up every towel and sheet he set eyes on, tossed cushions across the room, opened and rummaged through all the drawers he'd used but to no avail. Reigning himself in enough to think clearly when he was in this much of a flurry was far easier said than done. He took a moment and made his way back to his front door.

What had he done? He'd come in, dropped his keys in the bowl, flung his coat over the back of the couch, gone to the bedroom and put his dirty clothes on the chair by the laundry basket before he got in the shower. It wouldn't be the first time that Alexis had told him that putting the laundry _in _the basket took less effort than piling it up next to it, but he never really paid much attention to things like that.

The laundry pile!

He rummaged through the pile before he found the envelope squashed between his Superman boxer shorts and his Danger Mouse socks, somewhat creased and smelling of coffee but at least he had it.

Right, now he had everything…except for time. Castle hurtled out of the loft and into the waiting elevator that would take him to the lobby. All he had to do now was hail a cab and make it to the church on time, in one piece and in a decent state.

No problem…


	9. Chapter 9

Surprisingly, he made it to the church with time to spare – the promise of a generous tip to the taxi driver seemed to have been enough to coax him into putting his foot down.

Passing through the solid church doors, Castle saw Lanie and Esposito exchanging not-so-quiet words about their respective plus ones.

"We broke up two months ago, so unless you think I joined a convent…." Lanie goaded.

Esposito wasn't quite sure how to respond to that and Castle took it as his cue to steer clear and avoid that 'third wheel' feeling. He wasn't much a fan of standing alone in the foyer of a church full of people he barely knew, but he'd take that option over third wheeling any day.

"Castle, you look like a lost puppy." _Saved by Beckett. _Castle thanked his lucky stars. "Where's your date?"

"At a Lady Gaga concert with a teenage boy. How can I compete with that?"

"Ooh, I dunno, Castle, maybe you could become a best-selling novelist and turn your book into a movie? Oh wait, didn't you already do that?" she ribbed. "Never mind, better luck next time."

"Haaa haaa, you're so funny, Beckett." Castle replied, clearly not appreciating her humorous jibe. "Maybe," he continued, "I could move to Italy, that way she wouldn't know any teenage boys to take her to Lady Gaga concerts."

Beckett's highly attuned ears zeroed in on Castle, unsure of where he was going with this.

"On second thoughts, maybe that isn't such a good idea."

"Realised how crazy that idea is hey, Castle."

"Well, we both know how Italian boys can be around beautiful American girls, don't we, Detective." Always one for dramatics, he paused to let his words sink in, stared her down. "Hey look who's here!" Over Beckett's shoulder, Ryan appeared.

"Aww, he looks so happy" Beckett cooed.

"Hey guys, thanks for being here" Ryan said gratefully, reaching over to give Beckett a hug.

"Where else would I be?" she grinned back at him as she pulled out of the embrace.

"So, you ready for this bro?" Esposito asked joining the group.

"More than anyth-"

Ryan was interrupted by the gasps of his friends. "What? What is it?" he asked, turning to face whatever it was that they were all staring at.

"Woah, no! You can't see her yet!" Esposito called, stepping in his friend's line of vision.

"Jenny, you look beautiful." Castle announced as Beckett snapped a picture.

"Thank you, Rick" the expectation and excitement radiated from her flawless face.

"Show time." Espo called and shepherded Ryan towards the front of the church leaving Castle and Beckett at the bottom of the stairs.

"Shall we?" Castle asked as he offered his arm to her. With only a momentary hesitation to process the pros and cons of walking down an aisle with Richard Castle – writer extraordinaire and talented annoyance – she linked her arm through his own to 'escape the stigma of singledom' she reasoned with herself.

Once they and the other guests had taken their seats, the bridal march began. The entire congregation craned their necks to get their first glimpse of the procession. Using this as a perfect excuse, Beckett leant in close to Castle's ear.

"How's that deadline coming?" she whispered.

"Better than you know." He winked back at her and tapped his jacket pocket. Beckett narrowed her eyes, both curious and shaken by his confidence.

"We are gathered here today to celebrate the joining of Kevin Ryan and Jennifer Scout Duffy O'Malley in the presence of the Lord." The Priests voice rang out.

"So..."

"So, what?" Castle asked. Beckett gave him her 'you-know-what' look, the kind she normally threw his way when he was in some kind of trouble. "Oooh, you wanna know now?" to which Beckett responded with a short, obvious nod.

As the congregation rose for the first hymn, Castle slipped the envelope from his pocket and into the pages of Beckett's hymn book.

"Tell me I'm wrong" he dared, knowing how incensed she would be at the cunning of sealing his findings in the envelope. Beckett kicked herself for not fighting him harder for it earlier. She had been so close!

"If anyone knows of any lawful reason…" the Priest carried on.

The duo continued to sit side by side throughout the ceremony – him with a smug grin across his face, her seething inside yet appearing jubilant to the outside world.

Their debate was disrupted by another hymn and they dutifully stood among Kevin and Jenny's families, singing with both amusement and frustration. Now that they were getting to the business end of the ceremony, they wordlessly agreed to put their own spat momentarily on hold.

"…and Kevin, do you take Jennifer to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do"

You could almost hear the collective sigh of the romantics in the congregation, the flutter of hearts that skipped a beat in such a moment of beauty as the couple exchanged rings and gazed longingly into the eyes of the other before soaking up each other's essence with their first married kiss.

Ryan was right – they_ are _nauseating.

Castle turned back to Beckett and spoke softly in her ear.

"You're doing very well at controlling yourself, Beckett. I'd have thought you'd have wanted a piece of the lip-locking goodness that's on display."

Beckett's raised eyebrows in conjunction with her tightly pressed lips made no secret of her displeasure and she wanted to make sure he knew what he was in for.

"There's still time to get in on the action, champ."

"Optimism looks good on you" he winked, purely to wind her up even more. He couldn't help adding "Sexy, even", either.

"Twenty one" she spat out. Castle wasn't sure he'd heard her right. Did Beckett just tell him it was sixteen?!

"Sorry?" he returned in hushed tones.

"Magic number, twenty one." She murmured again.

"Twenty one?!" All eyes within five rows were now focussed on Castle – even Ryan and Jenny had separated long enough to glare at his disruption.

_Oops. That was a bit louder than anticipated._

He raised his hands apologetically and silently urged the Priest to continue.

"It now gives me great pleasure to present to you for the first time, Mr and Mrs Kevin Ryan."

The organ sounded as Ryan and Jenny took their first steps as man and wife, down the aisle towards the church doors and their new life together. All the heads in the congregation turned to watch the glowing faces of the newlyweds as they passed by, all except Castle and Beckett.

"No! How? When?!" his voice had returned to somewhat more hushed tones but was still louder than was appropriate.

"Ssssh!" Kate hissed at him. "Not me, you!"

"Me, what?"

"Your number. Twenty one."

Now it was Castle raising an eyebrow in her direction.

"I would say I'm impressed, but I'm not."

"Oh?" Now it was Beckett's turn to be confused.

"You're wrong."

"I am _not _wrong." She was becoming indignant now.

"Sure you are." He not-so subtly steered the conversation to his advantage. "Seventeen" he declared, recalling her videoed escapades.

"Now who's wrong?!" Beckett scoffed, not realising he'd flipped topics.

"Oh, I am most definitely right." He tapped the envelope she had yet to open. "Freshman year. Big party. I hear you set yourself a new record."

The Chesire Cat-like grin he flashed along with his remark soon disappeared when Beckett saw the contents of his envelope.

"Oh my god, Castle!" Now she was truly enraged. "Where the hell did you even get this?! This was _not _part of the deal!"

"Of course it is. What fun is just a list of names? All the fun is in the story." He said matter-of-factly, wary that the ice beneath his feet was wearing thin so he had to be sure to tread carefully here. "The names, by the way…" he turned the photo in her hand over so she could inspect the list he'd compiled. "…is on the back." He whispered his latest comment behind his hand, all in the spirit of treading lightly.

"There is no story, Castle!" she stared at the list of seven names Castle had accumulated on his 'Beckett List' and transferred to the back of the photo.

Castle let his head hang to the side, he'd said it a thousand times before – how could she not know by now?!

"There's _always _a story, Kate."

Ok, so she should have seen that one coming, but right now all she could see was red.

By this point, the wedding party, the Priest and the parents and grandparents of the bride and groom had all followed the happy couple towards the exit. It was time for Castle and Beckett to make nice and keep up appearances while they exited as well.

Arm in arm, just as before, the duo plastered faux-grins over their faces and began their stroll back towards the real world of murder and mayhem that infiltrated their daily lives.

"Gina Cowell" Beckett began, her lips unmoving, her smile fixed in place.

"Gina?!"

"and there's the 'Deep-fried Twinkie'"

"Ohh, you remembered. So touching that you listen to me when I moan about my ex-wife." Beckett ignored him and carried on.

"Sophia Turner…" she spouted a new name every couple of steps. "…and your interior designer…eurgh and that actress Ellie Monroe who totally had you hoodwinked…Mae Anderson…oh not forgetting 'the one that got away'… and Laurie Bartridge…" the names were coming thick and fast, she'd thrown out fifteen already and didn't show any signs of stopping. With each name, Beckett's smile grew more genuine – pleased at being able to pull one back after having lost a fair amount of ground to Castle these past few days. Castle on the other hand…

"Ashley Piesco, Suzanne Roberts…" Beckett was picking up speed now, they were almost out of the church and this wasn't a conversation she fancied having within earshot of Lanie and Espo and especially not in front of the Priest who was bidding farewell to everyone on their way out as they waited for Ryan and Jenny's big exit.

"Wait…Suzanne? I don't remember that one."

"San Diego, the waitress from the pizza place you then bumped into at a bar…" she waited for the penny to drop but it didn't come. "You missed your flight back to New York the next morning…"

"Ahhh, yes." There came the penny. "How could I forget that night?!"

Choosing not to dignify that particular question with an answer, Beckett pressed on. "Earlie Lindall, Kittie Irsik, Darcie Kerchal and Brenna Lockne" She was quite satisfied by her performance – some days she had trouble remembering the names of some of the beat cops that were in and out of the Precinct, so to remember so many names at once was quite an accomplishment in her book.

"Ah! You missed one! There was another one between Darcie and Brenna! Ha! Told you you were wrong." That smug feeling was beginning to return to him and Beckett could sense it. She jammed her elbow into his ribs. All of their 'keeping up appearances' was going out the window now

"Please, 'Joanna'?" she said, complete with the best air quotes she could managed with an arm pinned to Castle's side, "doesn't count. An interrupted would-be quickie with the cute woman that worked at one of the bookstores you did a signing at does not constitute a notch on your bedpost."

"Maybe not, but I bet there's a notch on hers…so I get to count it too." the cocky twinkle had definitely resumed residence in his eyes. "I'm quite the catch, Detective. Same story goes for Sarah, Keisha and Lavinia. I do believe that that makes a nice round twenty-five" he smirked, the nine year old on a sugar rush totally taking a backseat and the ladies' man in him taking centre stage.

Beckett's elbow made sharp contact with Castle's ribs again. She didn't agree with his calculations.

"Will you cut that out?"

"I will…right about the time that you quit b-"

"Father!" Castle cut her off before she had time to cuss him in the presence of the Priest. "What a beautiful service." He grinned, summoning up all of his charm for damage limitation.

"I'm surprised you had time to enjoy it between your little quarrels." The Priest replied, not maliciously but casually, as if his parishioners regularly partook in such activities during his services. His eyes dropped to Castle and Beckett's hands. "Not married yet I see. No ring at all. That shocks me somewhat, you have all the hallmarks of a married couple." He chuckled to himself, making light of the situation in a way only a Priest can. "Although, your 'we're not arguing' act when in public could use some work."

"Oh no, we're not 'together'" Beckett tried to explain.

"Thank you, Father. We'll keep working on it, and we thank you for your guidance" Castle really was in charm overload.

"Enjoy the rest of your day" he smiled back, gesturing the pair out the door so he could have a few words with the next people.

* * *

They had said no more about it at the church, they didn't want to completely upstage Ryan and Jenny's day like they seemed so unintentionally good at so far. After the throwing of the confetti as the newlyweds left the church and a plethora of photographs (in which Castle and Beckett were respectfully well behaved) to commemorate the day's events, the entire wedding party headed over to the reception venue.

The Bridal Party had a series of swanky cars, but the remaining mass of guests had to flag down cabs or take the subway to make their way across town. Half of the crowd had disappeared by the time Beckett decided hailed a cab for herself and Castle (who was flirting shamelessly in his oh so charming way with some of Jenny's friends from her book club – all big fans, no doubt).

The detective strutted up behind the writer, declaring "Play time's over, Writer Boy" and apologising to the women she was steering him away from. "Ricky can come out to play in a little while" the sarcasm oozed from her every pore and painted her features. "Isn't that right, Castle?"

He knew better than to disagree at this point so he nodded in affirmation. "I'll catch you later, ladies"

'_Enough already' _was all that filled Beckett's head as she dipped into her bag of tricks and pulled out the trusty ear-grab. Taking Castle by the ear – yet again – she dragged him to the cab and all but threw him in.

* * *

They only had a short way to go before they reached the Reception so they had to get this over with and fast.

"Why do you always have to do that?"

"Do what?" Beckett answered nonchalantly.

"That ear pinch/grab/tug thing that you do! Use your words, Beckett – most of the time they're less painful on the ears."

"I find actions speak louder than words." She retorted.

A few blocks passed as they sat ignoring each other in the back of the taxi. Eventually, Castle gave in and broke the silence.

"Why are you mad?"

"I'm not mad." Her response was short and sharp.

"But if you were, you'd tell me?"

"I'm not mad."

"But if you were-"

"Castle! I'm not mad." She snapped.

"Easy tiger, you might be more convincing if your bite wasn't so sharp."

He always could soften her up. She didn't know how or why, but somehow, he just knew what to say to melt away some of that ice she'd built up into a sometimes frosty exterior. She let out a slight chuckle. Why _was _she mad?

"Hey, a smile!" Castle cheered. "Your wounds can't be that bad – your bark really is worse than your bite."

She couldn't contain it anymore. That mini, half-hearted smile that sat on one corner of her mouth began to spread like wild fire until it took her over. There was something about Castle that just made her grin from ear to ear and she couldn't explain it.

"You know you did better than I thought you would, right?" she thumbed the photographs in her hand, still in disbelief that he had actually uncovered these.

"I gathered that from the reaction and all that ear-pinching" he laughed back, the mood between the two having totally shifted from the annoyance that weighed on them earlier to friendly fun-ness that lifted the two of them now.

"Yeah, well…" Beckett didn't really have anything to say to that except the roar of laughter that escaped her. It's true what they say, laughing is contagious – even the taxi driver was cracking into a smile now.

"By the way, what made you decide to hunt for my number?"

"It's only fair. You were digging for mine, it's only right I get to dig for yours. Not that it took much effort, page six is like your biography."

"How many times have I told you – all a woman has to do is ask. I'd have happily told you if I thought you wanted to know."

"Now where's the fun in that, Ricky?" she teased "The thrill is in the hunt."

She had a point.

"I know I'm right. Your number is twenty-one isn't it."

"Ah! Twenty five" he corrected, but soon retracted his statement on receiving the 'who-are-you-kidding' look from Beckett. "Eurgh, fine. Twenty one… but twenty five sounds so much better – that's like an entire baseball team! ...I shall now have to settle for a Chinese Dragon Boat Race team instead, although, that doesn't sound anywhere near as cool."

"Hmm, I dunno, Castle. How many people can say they've slept with enough people to race a Dragon Boat?"

"Hugh Hefner, Tiger Woods, Fidel Castro…but for him that would be too much power for a Dragon Boat, more like a small country..." he took a second to think some more.

"Rhetorical question, Castle. Thought you said you were a top-rated novelist?"

"A smile and some humour! My dear Detective, are you feeling ok?" he ribbed, placing the back of his hand against Beckett's forehead.

"Behave," she said, swiping his hand away. "So tell me, how'd you end up with your 'guess-timate'"

"Oh, it's not a 'guess-timate'. It's spot on. You've slept with enough people to make a water polo team...or a Quidditch team!"

"Confident are we?"

"110%"

Castle went on to recall his tales of the past few days, some of which Beckett was already privy to but she loved his stories so much that she let him tell her those bits again – just because his words had a way of making her insides ache for him.

So beautiful. So strong. So touching.

* * *

They reached their destination without even having registered the latter part of the journey. Time just didn't seem to exist when the two of them were alone. Castle paid the taxi driver – 'insisted' is more like it – and he and Beckett headed into the venue and towards the bar where Lanie and Esposito had said they would meet them.

"…then last night I found your Italian 'friend' online and he gave me plenty to go on." Castle was winding his story to a close now. "I'm telling you, there's no doubt in my mind now that you were once a wild child, Kate Beckett. I've heard exactly what you were like in college!"

"'_Were' _a wild child? Kids grow out of braces and cheerleading, but some things…" she leant over to his ear and whispered, "…some things a girl can never grow out of."

It was lucky he was already propping himself up against the bar by this stage, otherwise Castle wasn't sure he'd still be standing after that gem of a comment Beckett had just dropped.

"What aren't you telling me?!" he managed.

"Oh, sooo much, Castle." She turned to the barman and ordered for the two of them. "Tequila please, seven."

That was all the confirmation Castle needed to be sure his List was correct, well that and the wink she gave him as she ordered. One tequila for each member of her 'Quidditch' team.

"So how about it, Kate – fancy rubbing some salt into those wounds of yours and telling me the _whole _story?" he tapped the photo of the video snapshot he'd given her, wanting to know more tales behind the wild, carefree Kate that existed before the death of her mother. He slid the salt along the bar to her, along with the lime chunks that the barman had placed in front of him.

Beckett obediently licked the web of her hand and poured the salt between her thumb and forefinger. She stood confidently with lime at the ready, daring him to take her on.

"I'll tell you one of mine if you tell me one of yours" she purred, "Loser has to take the extra shot" she said on completing her first, dropping the remnants of the lime in the empty shot glass.

Castle stared at her, mesmerised. Was this _really _happening? He pinched himself to be sure. _Owww! _Yup, definitely real.

"What's the matter, Ricky? Scared?"

Eurgh, she was getting under his skin more now than during their poker games. It was unfair, how easily she could do that.

"Scared? I _live _for scared." He hesitated a second, realising that his latest attempt at 'trash talk' didn't really make all that much sense. He covered his tracks by downing not one, but two of his tequila slammers in quick succession. He was determined now. "You're on."

And just like that they'd closed the door on one challenge and thrown down the gauntlet for the next: Castle was going to peel back the layers of the Beckett onion despite the likelihood of it costing him his dignity...and his ears.

* * *

_**A/N: **_

_**So there you go guys, all finished :) I hope you liked it and just want to say a big thank you to you all for reading it and leaving such wonderful comments. I'm working on something new at the moment so hopefully I'll be 'seeing' some of you again soon over on that story when I post it. **_

_**Thanks again for joining me on this ride, I hope I managed to make you all smile at least once - that's all I set out to do. **_

_**Happy Hiatus everyone**_

_**A**_

* * *

_**A/N2: For those asking, I wasn't planning on doing a follow up with another challenge, but since so many people have asked, I'm considering it. If inspiration strikes and I get a few good ideas, I'll do it and be sure to let you all know. In the mean time, if you have any suggestions, I'm all for it!**_


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